Chapter 40

            I walked into Ricky’s apartment, after hiding my car somewhere Justin wouldn’t see it. I didn’t want him to know where I was at all, not till he calmed down. Millions of thoughts were running through my mind, but one that I was trying to believe was that Justin was just having a bad moment… he would never want to hurt me like that.

            “Ricky?” I locked the door behind me, bolting it shut and went looking for my best friend. “Louis? Anyone?”

            I was still extremely shaken up and just wanted my best friend to comfort me. I rubbed my tear-filled eyes and continued to look for Ricky or Louis.

            “In the living room, Nat!” I heard Savannah’s voice call out to me. Without another thought, I ran into the room and practically jumped into Ricky’s arms.

            “What happened?” I heard the concern in Ricky’s voice but didn’t even bother to look up to see his face. I just sobbed into his shoulder while he embraced me tightly.

            “Calm her down… I’m calling JC. I want to know what the fuck is going on.” Savannah exclaimed and pulled out her cell phone. I knew she was pissed off and she was going to give JC and Tommy and piece of her mind.

            It was like everything in my life was falling to pieces. Every time things would return to normal, they would return to hell just as quickly. It wasn’t fair, I just wanted the best life for my children, I just wanted to save my friends and family. How could doing a good deed turn into something so completely horrible?

            Well maybe it wasn’t good for David… but he fucking deserved it in the long run!

            “Justin…he showed up. He… he just went crazy.” I said dazed.

            “He saw you with David?” Ricky asked, stunned. I rubbed my eyes and just nodded, “yes”.

            So I was breaking once again, my new found strength and left my body the minute Justin walked into that restaurant. My still broken heart crumbled to dust. There was nothing left anymore.

            “Oh my God… Natty babe…” Louis walked over to me and for the first time I noticed that the three of them were playing the game of Life. It made me smile slightly at the memory I had.

            **

            “So I’m officially a millionaire… and how much money do you have? 300 thousand?” I giggled. I was a sore winner… so sue me?

            “That’s because you went to college and became a freakin accountant. I hope you know that most of the money you have is from me because I landed on every “pay tax” spot.” Justin sighed. “And I have like 7 kids. Two don’t even fit in the car. This isn’t cool.”

            “Come on Justin… don’t you want 7 kids.” I giggled as he stared at me like I had 3 heads.

            “Um… maybe like 4… 6 the absolute most. But I’d like 4, it’s a nice even number.” Justin said.

All I could do was laugh, 4 kids really even seemed like a lot to me but I would do whatever he wanted. I loved him and all I wanted to do was to make him happy. Justin really was my world, along with the twins of course.

“But I’d like to have another baby soon…” He stated, causing me to look up from the board game shocked.

The twins were about to turn two and I was not going to become pregnant with two toddlers running around. Everyone said that the “terrible twos” was the year where children were the most difficult to handle. Maybe I’d try for another baby when they were at least 4 or 5 but definitely not yet.

“Um… so soon babe?” I asked nervously.

“Why not? Maybe we could even start adopting and get like a soccer team like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.”

“You’re joking.” I said as the color drained from my face. That was more children than I could handle! Two freakin’ seemed like enough to me.

“No… in fact… why don’t we just buy our own island and populate it with our love children.” Justin cracked after that and just burst out laughing. I leaned over and smacked his arm.

“That wasn’t funny!”

“Yes it was… you are so gullible, baby girl.”

“You’re mean!” I whined, causing him to laugh again.

“And you’re hot. Deal with it.” He smirked. “And can we stop playing Life. I’m not catching up to you so what’s the point in even trying.”

“Fine you sore loser…” I stuck my tongue out at him. “What do you want to do then?”

Justin laid down on the floor on his side and smiled up at me. His hand reached up and grazed my cheek softly, sending chills through my body. “How about we start a new game?”

“What game would that be?” I asked innocently, purposely batting my eyelashes to add to the innocence I was trying to portray.

“Who can take their clothes off faster.”

“It sounds boring.” I hid a smirk while he grew impatient.

“I’ll make it fun… I promise…“ His hand trailed down from my face and slowly made its way down my neck. He knew the places to touch me that were sensitive and would immediately add to my already burning desire for him.

He had me, just the way I had him. I leaned down and kissed him, letting my hands roam his body. Justin possessed me in every possible way someone could. My mind, heart, body and soul all belonged to him. He completed me in more ways than anyone could ever imagine.

If anyone knew that they definitely had a soul mate, it was me.

**

“Don’t stress about it anymore, Nat. Justin isn’t going to bother you tonight… I bet Tommy and JC are calming him down right now.” Savannah said and wrapped a comforting arm around me. Nothing could make me feel better at a moment like this.

All of them spoke so easily about the situation, but none of them were really there. They didn’t see the rage in Justin’s eyes and the urge to kill. If he would have had a few more minutes with me, He would have raped me and probably killed me.

How was I supposed to forgive that this time? How could I be okay with him putting his hands on me and blatantly beating me? There was no remorse in his eyes… there was nothing familiar in his eyes. He wasn’t the man I fell in love with.

“Savannah’s right… you just need to relax tonight. Eat a shit load of junk food, cry if you want and then tomorrow get this all straightened out.” Ricky offered me a sad smile. “Remember, as Miss Scarlett O’Hara said… “ After all, tomorrow is another day…”, so babe, don’t worry about Justin…he’s probably kicking himself for acting like an asshole.”

I jumped up suddenly when a loud banging sound came from the front door. My eyes immediately turned to Ricky who stood up quickly with a stunned look on his face. He definitely couldn’t have been more stunned than me.

“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR RIGHT NOW! I KNOW THAT BITCH IS IN THERE!”

Shaking, that was all I could do when I heard his voice from the other side of the door. I couldn’t erase this one thought from my mind; Justin was going to kill me. I was silently wishing I would have listened to everyone who was trying to keep us apart, maybe then everything would be better. But in my heart, I knew I could never give up the amazing relationship I had with Justin and most importantly I wouldn’t trade my children for anything.

I could not regret the happiness I had in my life.

“Get her out of here…” Louis yanked me up by the arm and shoved me into Savannah’s waiting arms. “Hide her.”

Savannah pulled me into the bedroom and instructed me to hide in the closet. She promised everything would be all right, but quite honestly, I couldn’t believe her. How could she or anyone know for sure that Justin was not going to come in here waving a gun in the air.

I sat on the floor of the closet, rocking back and forth. How could this of become my life? How could things that were so great fall and turn into hell so quickly?

“Where the fuck is she Ricky? I’m not fucking playing!”

“Justin calm the hell down… she’s not here!” Ricky replied. Oh God… I had a terrible feeling about all of this.

I wanted to cut so badly at that moment. Every time the going gets tough that seems to run through my head. I try so hard not to do it, I try so hard to be strong, but at moments like this it feels so utterly useless.

At a moment like this all I could do was listen and wait for the inevitable.

**

            Boiling hate, blinding rage, and an unquenchable thirst for revenge. That was all Ricky saw when he looked at Justin who was now standing in his living room.  He was terrified of him to sum it up lightly.

            “DON’T FUCKING LIE TO ME… WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?!” Ricky, Louis and Savannah all winced, bracing themselves for pain, when Justin picked up a table lamp and chucked it. It thankfully missed them all but slammed into the wall, more specifically a picture of Natalia which hung on the wall.

            “Justin… she’s not here… why are you so angry? What happened?” Louis asked.

            Justin looked at him, and for a split second, there was no anger just a look of absolute misery. He was in pain and not at all happy at what was going on. Louis knew he had to straighten this out… for all their sakes.

            “She … she’s cheating on me again… with David…” He broke down crying in front of Natalia’s three friends.

            “This guy is definitely like schizophrenic or bipolar or something…” Ricky whispered to Savannah, who elbowed him in the side, trying to get him to shut up.

            “How do you know?” Louis asked, slowly walking over to Justin. “Maybe you were mistaken…”

            “I was not fucking mistaken… I SAW HER WITH HIM!” Justin exclaimed, shoving Louis away. He was feeling a mix of emotions, but he knew as soon as he got to his car and took another hit of that white powder, he’d feel better. Cocaine was the only thing that could cure him from what he was feeling.

            Justin couldn’t trust any of these people; he knew that for a fact. They were all on Natalia’s side; they were just like the gorgeous conniving bitch he married. Justin also knew how crazy he looked, but no one understood what it felt like to walk in on Natalia with David, and then forgiving her was even harder… but now she was at it again? He felt like he was dying and there was nothing left to lose.

            “Justin, she loves you and she wouldn’t jeopardize your relationship.” Ricky reasoned while Justin shook his head wildly. He was on the brink of a breakdown, that was evident to all of them, but Ricky for one wasn’t going to let anyone he loved get bullied by Justin. “And watch your fucking hands bro. You put your hands on him again and I fuck your face up.”

            “I’d like to see you try.” Justin replied darkly, rubbing his nose. Ricky had just about lost it, first Justin was harassing Natalia and now Louis. This was going to end right now. Ricky knew he had to make sure to stop this psycho from going any further.

            “Boys… calm the hell down. Ricky… he isn’t worth it… and Justin… Natalia isn’t fucking here… she’s obviously hiding because your acting like a crazy person so would you just LEAVE before we call the damn cops.” Savannah declared, wildly pointing her finger at him and then at the door.

            “Fuck you Savannah. I’ve fucking helped you through your entire situation… kept shit from my boy JC for you and now you have the fucking balls to tell me to calm the fuck down and threaten to call the cops? You’re a fucking self centered bitch… the all of you fucking are.”

            “J… go chill out and find Natalia when you got your shit straightened out.” Louis sighed and ushered Justin toward the door. Justin immediately pushed away from Louis’s grip, growing more enraged.

            “FUCK Y’ALL. You aren’t friends… you’re all fucking opportunists who have your own problems and are venting towards me cause you don’t know how else to get out your fucking rage…Louis… why don’t you tell Ricky what you told me? How you’re getting scared of how serious y’all are… and Savannah… you’re yelling at me because you are a miserable fucking bitch… JC won’t marry you… yeah? Get the fuck over it. I guess he’s taking the cue from me and realizing that you shouldn’t marry a WHORE!” Justin ranted from the doorway while Savannah, Ricky and Louis all stood stupefied.

            “How could you be so cruel?” The southern girl asked, crushed. Justin was one of her best friends, who helped her throughout her rape and actually gave her insight into the mind of JC. She couldn’t understand how he could throw the things she confided in him, at her.

            “I wasn’t always like this… thank your friend.” The sad man rubbed his nose and looked down. “I started my life over when I met her… I had a clean slate… she was the first person I ever opened myself up to… what a mistake that was.”

            Ricky didn’t know if he should believe Justin and his rantings. There was obviously more than met the eye with him; something just seemed to be very off with him and it wasn’t just the Natalia issue. Justin seemed like a completely different person, was this his childhood experiences surfacing? Or some alcohol abuse? Or had Justin actually just gone over the deep end?

            “Just leave Justin…”

            “Gladly. Tell Natalia to rot in fucking hell when you see her.” With that Justin Timberlake turned his back and walked away, leaving four broken people behind him.