Chapter 55

Justin sat at the table, staring at his half empty beer bottle, completely tuning out the conversation that was going on around him.  He just couldn’t focus.  After trying to call Kerrigan and getting the answering machine a knowing feeling had come over him.  Something wasn’t right.  Even if she were angry with him she would answer the phone.  And there was no possible way she could be asleep.

She had left the club because she was upset and Justin knew Kerrigan well enough to know that she didn’t sleep when she was upset.  She would be undoubtedly trying to distract herself with something.  Or at least sitting there lost in thought.  But there was no way she was sleeping.  Which meant she should have answered the phone.

Trace and JC of course had brushed off his concerns telling him he was only making up excuses to go home so he could talk to her, but Justin knew something wasn’t right.  He could feel it in the pit of his stomach.  And the last time he had ignored that feeling Kerrigan had gotten hurt.

Standing up, it was decided.  He was going home to check on her.  Something wasn’t right and he didn’t care what Trace or JC said.  If he got there and she was asleep fine, then he would just have to deal with them lecturing him.  But he was not about to ignore that gut feeling this time around.  No this time he was going to do something about it.

“Where are you going?” Trace asked, when Justin got up from the table.

“Home.” he said simply, grabbing his jacket.

“J, we’ve been over this.” Trace groaned.

“Yeah, we have.  And I told you, something’s not right and I’m going home to check on her.  If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong.  But I’d rather be safe than sorry this time around.”

“What do you think could be wrong, Justin?  She’s at the house.  Probably sleeping.  You’re just being paranoid.” JC shook his head.

“Call me whatever you want, I don’t care.  But I’m going home.  I’ll see you guys later,” he said, heading off towards the exit.

Trace groaned and looked at Becca.  “Let’s go.” she said, knowing Trace wanted to be there in case world war three were to break out between Kerrigan and Justin.

Trace nodded and got up.  “I guess we’ll see ya later, C.”

“Call me tomorrow and let me know what happened.” JC smiled.  He had known from the beginning they wouldn’t be able to sway Justin for long.  If he got an idea in his head, then he was going to do it, no matter what.

“Will do.” Trace said, giving him a manly hug before walking off with his girlfriend.

Once outside they caught up with Justin.  “Yo, J.  Wait up.” Trace called.

“I’m leaving Trace and you’re not stopping me.” Justin growled.

“I’m not trying to stop you.  We’re leaving too.”

“Oh.” Justin nodded.

“I’m just gonna take Becca home, then I’ll be there right behind you.  Ok?” Trace said as he flagged down a taxi for him and his girlfriend.

“Yeah.  Fine.  I’ll see you at home.” Justin said, climbing into the SUV that had been pulled around for him.

The ride back to the house seemed to take forever.  Traffic was unusually heavy for that time of night on a weekday, but when they finally reached the house, Justin was relieved.  At least it was still standing.  So he could rule out some horrific fire or something.

“Want me to see you in?” Mike asked from the driver’s seat.

“Nah, I can make it on my own.” Justin chuckled at his bodyguard.

“Alright, well I guess I’ll see ya tomorrow or whenever.” Mike smiled as Justin climbed out.

“Alright.  Later.” he said, shutting the car door and walking up to the house.  He dug the keys out of his pocket and fumbled through them trying to find the right house key when he heard a thump inside the house.  And it wasn’t just any thump, it was a loud thump.

Justin stared at the front door for a moment, listening for further noise, but heard nothing.  He found the correct key and went to unlock the door but found it was already unlocked.  That struck him as really odd.  Kerrigan never left the door unlocked, even when the guys were there with her.  They all locked the door, just in case some deranged fan or someone should happen to get past his security gates.

Justin opened the door slowly and peeked his head inside, immediately knowing something was wrong when he could see straight into the living room and see the broken glass.  He shoved the door open and rushed into the house without a second thought.

Running into the living room he looked around for Kerrigan, but the only thing he found was the crushed glass table with speckles of flood on the floor.  Turning around to survey the room Justin then noticed the blood smears against the wall and his heart began to race.  Blood.  Kerrigan was hurt.  “Kerrigan?” he called out, hearing no response.  “KERRIGAN!” he called out again rushing into the kitchen, looking for any signs of her.

Justin was beginning to panic.  Where the hell was she?  She was hurt, there was blood, and she couldn’t have gotten that far.

Rushing back down the entryway, Justin jumped back when Mike came barging through the front door.  “I saw the way you came in the house.  What’s the hell’s going….” Mike trailed off when he looked past Justin and saw how the living room was torn apart.  “Where’s Kerrigan?  Didn’t she come home a couple hours ago?” Mike questioned, growing worried.

But Justin didn’t get the chance to respond.  Suddenly there was a loud scream from upstairs followed by another thumb.

Justin’s eyes grew large and he shoved past Mike racing up the stairs, Mike hot on his heels.  “Justin, hold up.  Let me check it out.  JUSTIN!” Mike yelled, when Justin ignored him and continued up the steps and down the hallway.  “Damn that boy!”

Justin reached Kerrigan’s room and attempted to open the door but it was locked so he began banging on the door.  “KERRIGAN!  Kerrigan, are you all right?” he yelled through the door.

Kerrigan’s head shot up from the floor and she looked at the door.  Justin was there, oh God thank you, Justin was there, she thought.

Cody walked over to her and grabbed her by her hair, pulling her across the room as she whimpered from the pain.

In the last half hour he had beaten her beyond belief when she refused to pack her suitcase or do anything he had told her to do.  She had managed to get in a few blows to him as well.  Scratching him with her fingernails and cutting him with a piece of glass she had pulled from her back when he wasn’t looking.  But her efforts hadn’t been enough.  He was like some super human force; he just kept going no matter what she did.

“KERRIGAN?” Justin called out again when he didn’t receive an answer.  “Are you ok?  Kerrigan, open the door!”

“She’s just fine, Justin.  You can go away now!” Cody called back.

Justin froze at the sound of Cody’s voice; all color draining from his face.  He turned and looked at Mike who was beside him.  Mike motioned for Justin to move away from the door so he could handle things, but Justin refused.

Turning his attention back to the door he began once again to bang on the door.  “Open this fucking door, Cody.  RIGHT NOW!  OPEN THE DOOR!” he demanded.

Cody laughed.  “Go away, Justin.  We’re just gathering up Kerrigan’s stuff and then we’ll be gone.  No need to worry.”

Kerrigan whimpered when Cody’s grip on her hair tightened.  “Please, Cody.  Just leave.” she begged, wanting the whole ordeal to be over with.

“I’m not leaving without you, babe.  And now that Mr. Timberfuck is here that could be a problem.  Good thing I brought this with me.” he said, pulling a gun from the inside pocket of his jacket.

Tears began to pour heavily down Kerrigan’s cheeks.  “Cody, no.  Please!” she begged.  “Put that away.  I’ll do whatever you want, just put that away.  Please!”

“Don’t worry babe, I don’t have any intentions of using it unless I have to.” Cody smiled down at her.

Kerrigan sobbed, this had gotten way out of hand.  He had a fucking gun and he could seriously hurt if not kill Justin and there was no way she could let that happen.  “Please Cody.  Just tell me what to do.” she pleaded.

“Tell him to go away.  Tell him you’re leaving with me.  That you love me.  Tell him to leave us alone.” Cody instructed.

Kerrigan nodded.  Sobbing softly she turned towards the door.  “J, just go away.  Everything’s fi….” she started but was cut off by Justin’s banging on the door again.

“The hell it is, Kerrigan.  Open this fucking door right now you mother fucker.  I’m going to kill you.  I told you to stay the hell away from her!” Justin yelled through the door.

The banging stopped and Kerrigan thought for a moment that he had given up, but no sooner did that thought cross her mind, did the distinct sound of Justin kicking the door started in.  “OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR!” Justin yelled.

Kerrigan could see the hinges on the door starting to give way with each kick and she knew as soon as he came through that door Cody was going to shoot him.  He already had the gun aimed directly at the door.

Her heart was racing and she was scared to death.  She didn’t know what to do.  Seeing the door begin to give way further, Kerrigan did the only thing she could think to do.  “JUSTIN HE’S GOT A GUN!” she screamed, just as the door gave way.

Cody fired as soon as the door flung open and Kerrigan screamed.  Mike quickly shoved Justin out of the way, being struck in the back by the bullet.

Cody turned around to Kerrigan yanking her up by her hair.  “You dumb bitch.  What the hell were you thinking?” he growled, hitting her across her face, sending her to the floor once again.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” Justin yelled, tackling Cody from behind.

Kerrigan crawled over to the wall to get away from the brawling men.  She was scared to death.  She knew Cody still had the gun and didn’t want Justin to get shot but she didn’t know what to do.  She was frozen in fear as she watched the two men rolling around on the floor.

Never in all her life had she ever seen Justin as angry as he was.  He continued to punch Cody repeatedly every time he got the upper hand and then struggled to fight Cody off when Cody would somehow manage to role them over.

Seeing Cody raise the gun and point it towards Justin’s head as Justin tried to restrain his arms pushed Kerrigan into action.  She screamed for Justin to watch out and watched in horror as Justin jerked the gun off to the side just as it went off, firing over Justin’s shoulder.

Kerrigan scrambled to her feet and looked around for anything she could use as weapon.  Seeing her childhood baseball bat sticking out from under her bed she rushed over and picked it up.  Turning around, bat in hand, Kerrigan saw that Cody had somehow managed to role him and Justin over again and he was hovering over Justin, his back to Kerrigan, trying to point the gun at Justin once again.

Kerrigan rushed over and with every last bit of strength she had she hit Cody across his back with the bat.

Cody buckled from the blow, falling on top of Justin, the gun slipping from his hand.  Justin pushed Cody up off of him and got to his feet, kicking the gun away from Cody so he couldn’t reach it.

He rushed to Kerrigan’s side.  “Oh my God, are you ok?” he asked, looking her over.

Kerrigan slumped to the floor in tears.  “I thought he was going to kill you.” she cried.

“Sweetie, it’s ok.  I’m ok.” Justin tried to reassure her, pulling her into a tight hug.

“But he….he coulda…coulda…” she tried to get out.

“Shhhh.  I’m ok, Kerr.  We’re both ok.  Everything’s ok.” Justin said, trying to comfort her.

Justin didn’t know what to do.  She was shaking uncontrollably in his arms.  Looking down at his hands he saw blood and quickly pulled away from her.  Turning her around he pulled up her shirt to inspect her back.  “Oh my God.” he said, seeing all the glass fragments embedded in her back, along with all the blood.  “I’m going to get a towel.” he said rushing off towards the bathroom behind her.  Not another thought in his mind, the only important thing being to take care of Kerrigan.

Kerrigan started to go after Justin, but then she noticed Cody move, attempting to get up.  She rushed over to the gun, because it was closer than the bat and picked it up, pointing it directly at Cody.  “Stay where you are Cody.” she warned.

He looked over at her and merely smiled.  “You wouldn’t shoot me, babe.  You love me, remember?”

“I don’t love you, I hate you.” she mumbled.

“I bet you don’t even know how to shoot a gun.” Cody grinned as he got to his feet.  “Just give it to me, Kerr and I’ll spare lover boy.” he said, holding his hand out.

Without thinking Kerrigan pulled the trigger on the gun.  The shot rang out through the house, Justin rushed back into the room to find Kerrigan standing there, trembling as she pointed the gun at Cody.

Cody smiled.  “You missed.”

Justin slowly approached Kerrigan from behind as to not startle her.  “Kerrigan.” he said softly once he was within reach of her.  “Give me the gun, sweetie.” he instructed.

Kerrigan turned to look over her shoulder at Justin.  She nodded and handed him the gun.

“Thank you, sweetie.” Justin said, as he pulled her to his chest, wrapping one arm around her as he held the other pointed at Cody.  “The cops are on their way, just so you know.” he told him.

Cody scoffed.  “I don’t give a shit.  They’ll put me in jail, but when I get out we’ll be right back at square one again.  She belongs to me, Justin.  She’s mine.  And if I can’t have her, nobody can.”

Justin glared at him.  “She belongs to no one.  Least of all you.  And like I’ve told you before, if you ever come anywhere near her again, I’ll kill you.”

“You’ll kill me, huh?  Well, you got a gun in your hand right now.  Why don’t you go ahead and do that?  Cause I promise you I’ll be back.”

Just then Trace rushed into the room, drawing Justin’s attention from Cody.  “What the hell…whoa!” he yelled, holding his hands up in the air when he seen Justin pointing the gun at him.  He had automatically moved the gun towards the door when Trace came barging in.

And that was the only chance Cody needed.  He rushed forward towards Justin and Kerrigan.  “J, WATCH OUT!” Trace yelled.

Justin looked back at Cody and all he could see was him rushing towards him.  Without thinking he pushed Kerrigan off to the side and held the gun up and fired.