Chapter Sixteen
Jai returned home a few days later, bursting with stories to tell Justin. She let herself into her apartment, pleased and touched to find that Paul had bought a bottle of champagne for her.
"I know you’re not 21 yet," the note read, "But I think you have just cause to celebrate. Here’s to the kickoff of a wonderful year, with a tour starting soon and a bevy of fantastic media appearances under your belt. Congratulations." She shoved the bottle into a bucket of ice and called Justin.
She frowned when he didn’t pick up. She had gotten back earlier than expected, however, so she left a message. "Jus, it’s me, I’m back. Exhausted but ecstatic. I have a bottle of champagne chilling here with our names on it. Come over as soon as you get this." She hesitated, once again wanting to say "I love you." Instead she hung up the phone. If she was going to tell him soon, she’d do it face to face. Feeling grubby from hours on the plane, she hopped into the shower to rinse off some of her travel dust.
Justin walked into the house with JC in tow. "I suck at golf, I don’t know why you’re excited every time you beat me," JC said, laughing as Justin gloated some more.
"It doesn’t matter. I beat you, that’s the point. And besides, I was under par," he said smugly, pushing play on the machine.
Jai’s voice made him stop what he was doing. He listened intently, his mouth still open from whatever he had been in the middle of saying. When the message stopped, JC let out the laughter he’d been holding in.
"If only I had a camera," he said. "Lovesick Justin Timberlake makes a damned entertaining picture."
Justin snapped his mouth shut and glared at JC, but the phone rang and he jumped for it. So much for the fierce image. "Hello?" he said, eagerly, assuming it was Jai. JC watched as Justin’s expression went from confused to angry and then to cool. "Fine. Hey, as long as it’s a public place, who cares. Yeah, I can do that," he said quietly. He hung up the phone.
"What was that?"
"Someone has pictures of Jai and me," he said stiffly.
"So? Everyone on earth has pictures of Jai and you--" JC’s voice trailed off as he realized what sort of pictures Justin meant. "Ohhh…" He watched as Justin grabbed his keys and headed back toward the door. "Justin, you can’t just meet someone like that. You don’t know what they could have planned."
"Call Jai, tell her I’ll be late," Justin said, not turning around. JC flinched as the door slammed and picked up the phone.
Jai was hunting down a corkscrew when the phone rang. She picked up the cordless and tucked it to her shoulder. "Hello?"
"Jai, it’s JC."
"Hey, what’s up?" Jai asked brightly. She’d had a soft spot for JC since he’d helped her so much with Justin.
"Well, Justin told me to call. He’s going to be a little late because he had some stuff to take care of," JC said, hoping he didn’t sound too suspicious. He knew he wasn’t a great liar.
"Oh." Jai sounded disappointed. "Well, that’s okay, I was early. Ah-ha!" she said as she located a corkscrew. "Victory." She explained the search to JC, who laughed.
Someone knocked on the door just as Jai got ready to try and uncork the champagne. "Who is it?" she called, covering the mouthpiece of the phone.
"It’s Justin." His voice was muffled through the thick door.
"Jace, Justin’s here. Looks like he got finished sooner than he thought," Jai laughed. "But thanks for calling. Bye."
She hung up before JC could say a word, leaving him in a stunned silence. There was no possible way he could have made it to Jai’s apartment that quickly.
"Jus, come on in, I’m opening up the champagne." Jai shivered a little in anticipation. She couldn’t have ever predicted how much she would miss Justin. She couldn’t quite grasp how, two months ago, she hadn’t even known he existed. Now he was just as much a part of her day as eating, sleeping, breathing. As singing.
The door opened and closed and she wrestled with the cork on the bottle. She wanted everything to be perfect for the night. She heard his steps behind her and his fingers swept her damp hair off of her neck.
"Your hands are cold, Justin," Jai laughed. She felt a little uneasy. Nerves, she told herself, smiling. You can perform without so much as a jitter, but when it comes to facing your own boyfriend, you’re mush. "There, it’s open!"
"Good," a voice that was not Justin’s whispered in her ear. "Now we can celebrate."
JC paced Justin’s living room floor, listening to the incessant ring through the telephone. He had been trying to call Justin’s cell phone for a full five minutes, and all he got was that damned ring.
"Forget it, Justin, I’m going over there," JC said to himself, grabbing his coat and running out the door. "I hope to God all I’m doing is interrupting you and Jai."
As JC broke the speed limit trying to find Jai’s apartment, Justin was standing in the parking lot of what was once a car dealership. Faded red, white, and blue banners flapped lazily in the air, the only reminder of the business that had been there. Justin glanced at his watch. He’d been there for ten minutes, and no one had shown up. He’d left his wallet and cell phone in the car in case he was just getting cased to mug, but he was starting to think that something had gone wrong.
Five more minutes, he promised himself. Then I’m out of here. That’s when he saw JC’s car fly by.
Chapter Seventeen
Jai’s breath clogged in her throat and her fingers flexed around the corkscrew. She was roughly jerked around to face Winston Carey. His sickeningly handsome face was set in a leer, and bruises mottled his throat.
"Hey, darlin’," he said, sliding his hands up her sides. Jai felt bile rise in her throat and she swallowed hard. "I heard you’d be back today. I see you even broke out the Cristal for us, honey. You’re so sweet." He lowered his lips to her ear and she jerked back.
He’d been planning this for days. Justin’s last girlfriend had fallen into bed easier than a whore on call, so Winston didn’t think that this one would be much different. She was playing the game awfully well, though.
"J-Justin’s coming," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
Carey looked thoughtful and shifted closer to her. "No, no he’s not," he said. "He had other things to attend to. I suppose there are things more important than his darling Jai," he said, letting his voice trail into a whisper. He knew what women liked. He kept his voice soft and his hands moving.
Jai tried to keep from being afraid. He’s just a bully, she told herself firmly. Just a bully. She realized that he was easing her into the corner of the kitchen where Justin had first kissed her, and her rationale clicked off. "No, no, no, not here," she heard herself whimper.
Carey’s eyes lit up. "Somewhere else, perhaps? That’s all right." He took those whimpers for encouragement. "Before we go any further, I have a favor to ask. Your boyfriend--" he spat the word-- "Put these marks on my throat, being the heathen that he is. But it didn’t bother me. I knew you’d kiss them and make them feel better."
Jai gulped in air and nodded, switching gears. The corkscrew still grasped tightly in her fingers, she stood on tiptoe and put her lips to the black and blue marks on Carey’s throat. His dirty comments trailed off in an anticipatory hum, and Jai braced herself. She opened her mouth and bit him as hard as she could, turning the corkscrew into his side. She tasted his blood and felt it over her hand momentarily before he shoved away, ramming her back into the countertop hard enough to make her scream.
"Bitch!" he yelled. "You fucking bitch!" He looked down below his ribs and saw the handle of the corkscrew protruding, a bloom of blood spreading on his tailored shirt. His face, formerly flushed with rage, dropped to a deathly pallor. He touched the handle with his fingers, howling at the pain. He turned large eyes up to her, blood seeping down his neck. "Get-- get it out."
Jai felt around behind her and managed to open a drawer and extract a long-handled knife without turning her back to him. "No," she said, her chest heaving. "You are fucking insane!" she screamed, gripping the knife. She could feel the sobs coming on. Why wasn’t Justin coming? "You were going to rape me," she accused, the tears standing in her eyes.
"You would have wanted it," Carey insisted, but his hand was weaving through the air, trying to find something to grasp onto. He was swaying back and forth, his face now a shade of gray.
He collapsed just as the door burst open.
"Jai, dear God…" JC stood in the doorway, at first seeing only Jai covered in blood and grasping a knife. His first thought was that she cut herself, and then he saw Win Carey grasping the kitchen table, blood pouring out of his side. JC grabbed the phone by the door and dialed 911. Jai was frozen in place, her eyes never leaving Carey. Before JC’s emergency call was placed, Carey had passed out on the floor.
JC approached Jai cautiously, his hands held in front of him. "Jai, you can put that down," he said softly, gesturing toward the sink. "Go on and put that down."
She nodded mutely, still staring at Carey’s prostrate form. The knife clattered from her hands onto the floor and she let herself be held by JC.
Justin saw JC’s car first. "What the hell?" he muttered, getting out of his car slowly and looking at the haphazard parking job JC had done. He went into the building, taking the stairs two at a time. For the first time, he wondered why Jai wasn’t living in a building with some security.
He heard sobbing the second he got on her floor and took off running for her apartment. The door stood open, and his eyes were accosted by the sight of blood smeared all over the kitchen. JC stood with Jai by the sink, alternately looking back at Carey, still unconscious, and encouraging Jai to wash her hands and face.
"What happened. Oh, God, Jai, baby, what happened?" Justin took one step toward her when a hand wrapped around his ankle.
"Woulda gotten her, just like the other one," Carey wheezed. "If you hadn’t tainted her." Justin, feeling no mercy and suspecting what had happened, moved quickly and booted Carey in the head, sending him back into unconsciousness.
Justin crossed the kitchen and took Jai in his arms. "I’m so sorry I wasn’t here, Jai." The large dark circles under her eyes scared the hell out of him. "Thank you, JC."
JC shrugged. "She was doing fine on her own," he said, thinking of how much damage she’d done to Carey and how she was still holding a knife when he came in.
The three of them were still standing together by the sink when the cops came in.
Chapter Eighteen
Justin hated the questioning. Not for himself, but for Jai. After nearly 30 minutes of interrogation, he couldn’t take it anymore. "Hey, you know what? It wasn’t her fuckin’ fault. Now why don’t you back off and leave her along?"
Jai turned tired and grateful eyes up to him. The detective that had been questioning her sighed. "Sir, I understand how this might be for you, but we’re just doing our job."
The police station was filled with people. JC and Justin had came, and Jai’s mother had came with Paul in tow. Finally, Paul stepped forward. "Gentlemen, you’ve exhausted all of the possible questions you could have here. If you need to speak with Ms. Bowman, you can reach her at--"
"My house," Justin said quickly. He looked at Paul and Lillian, the glance he gave them quelling any dispute they may have had. "She’s going to stay with me."
Jai leaned against him heavily, closing her eyes. She didn’t want to listen anymore, didn’t want any more words. She just wanted to sleep, to be held, anything as long as she didn’t have to talk any more. The second she got into Justin’s car, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.
Justin could feel pain radiating from his clenched teeth into his head. He couldn’t think of anything but what had almost happened, couldn’t see anything but his Jai covered in someone else’s blood, tears streaming down her face. He knew that violence wasn’t the answer to anything, that trite phrase had been drilled into him by his mother and grandmother countless times, but he knew that if Winston Carey ever came within arm’s reach of him, he’d strangle the bastard. And he’d laugh while he did it.
He glanced over at Jai, her head leaning on the door, her mouth slightly open in sleep, and his jaw relaxed a little. Tears threatened his vision and he blinked, letting them fall down his cheeks as he pulled into his driveway. He parked the car and laid his head on the steering wheel, letting tears of relief, anger, and fear finally come pouring out. He wiped his hands over his concave, stubbled cheeks and got out of the car, shutting the door softly. He didn’t think an earthquake could wake her up, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
Justin picked Jai up out of the car and carried her inside, shocked by how light she was. Had she always been so light, so fragile? He dropped a kiss on her forehead and laid her on his bed, taking her shoes off and pulling the comforter over her.
His first instinct was to climb in bed with her, put his arms around her. Uncertainties flooded him, though. Do you really think she’d appreciate having another man touch her so soon after that? Do you really think she wants you suffocating her when she’s trying to rest? He knew that his reaction was typical for the significant other of an assault or rape victim, but he couldn’t help it. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt or scare her.
He sat down at the kitchen table, looking at the bottle of Beam standing by the kitchen sink. He grabbed the edge of the table, his arms shaking. Such an easy answer, that nasty little voice popped up. A drink or two to take off the edges, to chase away those tears and fears. He half-stood, then the bottle was snatched out of his line of sight by a slim and steady hand that opened it and poured it down the sink. His swollen eyes traveled up the length of her arm to her face, and to her calm gaze.
"Not for me," Jai said. "You’ll never do that over me." She sat down beside his chair and put her head in his lap. "I just wanted you to hold me," she whispered. "Be with me and make me feel safe."
"You shame me," Justin said. "Which is no more than I deserve." He had been on the verge of succumbing to a weakness, and she had maintained enough strength to yank him out of it.
"You deserve everything the world has to offer," Jai responded sleepily as his hands threaded through her hair.
"I love you," Justin said. "I loved you and I could have lost you."
She was suddenly completely alert. He felt her tense, her head raise slightly under his hands. She hadn’t wanted to talk or listen, but now--
"Justin," she whispered, turning her face up to him.
"I know that it’s early, and that we haven’t been together that long, but I love you. You showed me that people aren’t always selfish, and that there’s more to life than performing, more to life than music. You don’t have to love me back, but I do love you."
"I don’t have to love you back, huh?" Jai raised to her knees, playing her fingers over his face. "Too bad I already do. I have for a long while." Justin blinked, completely dumbfounded. He looked totally idiotic, and it made Jai smile despite all that had happened that day. "Come to bed, Justin. Make love to me."
Justin shook his head. "Jai, I can’t, not after--"
"After what?" Jai got to her feet, eyes blazing. "After some bastard tried to take what wasn’t his to have? That has nothing to do with you. It has nothing, nothing to do with us." Her voice softened slightly. "I’m not glass, Justin. I won’t break." She took his hands in hers and he allowed her to lead him to the bedroom.
Chapter Nineteen
"Un-fucking-believable," Justin said angrily, slamming a paper down on Johnny’s desk. "I tell you, no matter how much crazy shit I’ve read, this just tops it."
Johnny put down his coffee and raised an eyebrow at the photo on the page. Winston Carey, battered and broken, with a smattering of headlines implying that Justin had assaulted Carey and then conspired with his girlfriend to accuse Carey himself of attempted rape. "It’s all a publicity stunt," Carey was quoted as saying. "Something to take the tarnish off of the golden couple, since the world’s started to figure out there’s something fishy going on there."
"Can’t we do something about this?" Justin said desperately. "I don’t want Jai to see this, but I know she will."
"Short of killing Carey? Not much we can do," Johnny said. He saw the glint in Justin’s eye. "And since you seem to be in need of being told this, that’s really not an option."
Justin paced the plush office, slamming his fist into a black leather recliner in the corner. "How could they print this shit?"
"Force of habit," Johnny responded. "Justin, I want to warn you, there will be some who believe this. Word traveled fast about your outburst on Carey at the studio that night. It doesn’t help you out any."
Justin muttered a few more curse words under his breath. "There’s gotta be something we can do to make this go away," he said quietly.
"I’ll think about it," Johnny said quietly.
"Thinking’s not good enough," Justin said. "I’m going to go talk to Jai." He left Johnny sitting behind his desk.
Johnny picked up the phone and dialed. "Paul? I think we made a mistake. I think we actually did some real matchmaking."
Jai sat with Justin’s head in her lap, stroking a hand over his hair. The TV was on, turned to low, and she was trying to calm him down. "It’ll blow over Justin, just let it pass."
Justin mumbled something unintelligible that sounded like more curses.
"I sent JC a bunch of stuff today," Jai said, trying to change the subject. "As a thank you, you know. I bought him a Wok and this huge basket of Chinese spices with a cookbook."
Justin raised her head. "Since when do you know so much about what JC likes?"
Jai rolled her eyes. "In case you didn’t know, any dummy with a computer can get online and find out what you guys are into." She wrinkled her nose. "It’s a little creepy."
Justin sat bolt upright, grasping for the remote. Jai stared at him blankly, trying to figure out what he was doing. A picture of his ex-girlfriend filled the screen. "Tonight on ‘The Entertainer,’ Justin Timberlake’s ex gives us her take on the Win Carey scandal."
"Oh, you little bitch," he hissed at the television. "If you even do what I think you’re going to do…" he trailed off and listened as they started their interview.
"I only have one thing to say." Her hair and makeup was carefully styled, but her eyes looked sad. "This whole situation has nothing to with me, really, but I know Justin, and I know Winston. I was involved with them both, that’s no secret. I’m sure you all have some of that footage left in your archives," she smiled a little. "But I couldn’t sit back and watch Carey do this." She held up a copy of the tabloid that Justin had been fuming over that morning. "Win is a violent man. He’s always been a violent man. Not with me, really, I went to him willingly, but there were times when he said or did things that I wrote off as joking that weren’t joking at all. I don’t doubt that he did what he’s accused of, and if he did get his --" the next word was censored by a bleep-- " kicked, then it’s no more than he deserved."
"Do you still talk to Justin? Is there any chance that you’re doing this as a favor?" the reporter asked.
Another smile. "Check your footage again. It was a bad breakup. We haven’t spoken since then, and undoubtedly we never will. That doesn’t mean I can’t stand up and tell the truth when necessary."
The reporter started to ask another question, but she held up a hand. "I said that’s all I have to say," she said. The video faded out and the reporter gave a little ad lib about the interview itself.
Justin sat on the couch, completely shocked. "That’s the first thing she’s ever done in her life that wasn’t completely selfish," he said. "There’s gotta be a catch."
"Doesn’t seem to be," Jai commented, feeling a little jealous of the blonde and blue-eyed beauty she’d seen on the screen. "Seemed to be just the time to come forward."
After a few days with no catches in sight, Justin had to concede that maybe his ex had finally gotten a conscience. But the cleared reputation seemed to make things worse.
"There are at least 50 people outside my apartment building," Jai told Justin on the phone one evening. "I can’t handle this." They’d tried to go out the night before but had been swamped by press and admirers, ready to talk to the couple that had survived adversity. It would have been humorous if it weren’t so stifling.
"It’ll get better," Justin said, not sounding certain. "We won’t always be a media circus." But two weeks later, it was still the same, and the two had hardly seen each other because of constant attention.
Finally, Jai came up with a solution.
**Clipping from the Feb. 2 issue of the tabloid The Daily Dish**
ORLANDO, FLA.-- Teenage girls everywhere can breathe a little easier now. Heartthrob Justin Timberlake and rising star Jai Bowman have split up. Sources close to the pair say that the recent scandal involving Winston Carey and an appearance by a woman from Justin’s past accelerated the declining relationship.
When asked for comment, Bowman said "Things just had to be this way, it was too hard to be together anymore."
Timberlake is quoted as saying "The things that brought us together weren’t even that important."
This comes only a week after The Daily Dish crowned the couple the most attractive in the entertainment industry.
"I guess our instincts were wrong," said People magazine’s Anne Guilfoyle. "We just did a spread on how they were the model couple, together through thick and thin. Just goes to show how fickle celebrities can be."
Jai sipped her coffee and read the tabloid, a huge smile on her face. She looked across the table and grinned. "Guess you shouldn’t be here," she said, leaning over and kissing him.
Justin laughed and turned the paper so that he could see it. "Guess not, since we broke up."
The two got up and looked out the window, where not a single reporter lurked. Jai twined her fingers with Justin‘s and laughed. "It‘s good to be single."
Judging by the kiss she got, Jai would say that Justin agreed.
The End