˚˚˚

CHAPTER NINE

❝WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVINCE? ME OR YOURSELF?❞

˚˚˚

The sound of the door opening made Winnie turn around and see Justin headed for the staircase making her pause the television and check her phone and see it was almost midnight.

She hopped up from the couch and jogged over to the staircase and made her way upstairs and stood in front of Justin's door.

Winnie pursed her lips momentarily and knocked on the door and stood back as she waited for it to open — only it never happens, instead she heard Justin tell her to come in.

Winnie huffed and opened the door and stopped herself right at the door when she saw Justin taking his shirt off the minute she walked into the room.

Just as he did so, his muscles began to flex making Winnie's breath get caught up in her throat as she cleared her throat and looked down at her sock covered feet.

"What's up?"

"Um. . .can we talk?"

"Sure, about?"

Winnie sighed softly and and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you. . .are you back together with Iris?"

"Why does that concern you? And did Jade tell you?"

"Doesn't matter, Justin. . .I thought you were done with her."

"Winnie, I don't follow you right now. . .," Justin murmured softly as a small chuckle left his lips and he went to sit on the edge of his bed. "Are you upset?"

"Justin, it's obvious she's not serious about being with you—"

"Oh, thanks, Dr. Phil, anything else you wanna spitball while we're talking about her? Because you don't even know her!"

"Neither do you!"

Justin snickered. "You're one to talk."

"What?"

"You and Pete."

Winnie scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest as she heard Justin laugh and run his large hands through his hair and shake his head in the process.

"That's not the same, Justin."

"Is it? You two go on dates, send cute little texts, kiss each other every chance you get, and you met him a week ago!"

Winnie didn't know what to say. She could feel her throat starting to feel clumped and tears start in the back of her eyes as Justin stood over her with a clenched jaw.

"If that's how you feel. . .have fun with Iris, Jay."

With that, Justin changed his posture and watched Winnie walk to his door and pause for a moment and look back at him seeing him looking at the floor.

Winnie sighed softly and opened the door and walked out of Justin's bedroom and shut the door behind her as Justin stood in the middle of his room feeling a pressure in his chest.

Just like planned, Justin thought.

Justin sat on the suede black couch with Iris and his arm wrapped around her waist as she leaned against his chest, both of them with a glass of Champagne in their hands with Iris's father on the couch across from them separated by the wide wooden coffee table.

"Justin goddamn Bieber. . .I didn't think I'd see the day."

"The day we'd be under the same roof?"

"Well yes. . .but sharing my most expensive Champagne!" Mr. Baxter shouted as a hardy laugh came out afterwards making Justin laugh as well as Iris playfully rolled her eyes.

"It's an honor, sir."

"Call me, Mike."

"Well, Mike, don't tell my father I'm here. He just might have a heart attack."

Mike laughed softly and shook his head. "Old bastard was always trying to one up me in the business."

"What happened when you guys were about to sell with each other?"

"Another story, another place. . .for now, goodnight you two."

Both Justin and Iris told Mike goodnight as he headed for the gold and white staircase and made his way upstairs to head to bed leaving Justin with Iris.

Iris cleared her throat and sat her glass down onto the coffee table and Justin's making him smile and crease his eyebrows. "Why don't we move this party upstairs, hm?"

"Can we talk first?"

"Sure."

"Listen. . .I know you still have feelings for Winnie. . ."

"What? I never—"

"Justin, stop. . .just listen, I know you do, you know you do. The only way we can make this work is for one thing."

"What?"

"Well, you're with Winnie more than I'm with you, so all I ask is that you just cut Winnie out completely."

Justin creased his eyebrows and momentarily paused. "I. . .don't follow, you want me to leave?"

"No, I want you to stop having any type of relationship with her. She's a distraction, Justin."

"Iris, think about this, Winnie and I aren't exactly friends—"

"Justin who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?"

Justin had took the time to process Iris's words. Was he really trying to convince himself? It didn't feel that way, all he knows was he wanted Iris and he couldn't unless Winnie was around.

"Okay, I'll do it."

Iris rose her eyebrows and let out a small laugh before leaning back over to Justin and grabbing his cheeks and pressing her lips onto his making him smile into the kiss and hold her by the waist.

Justin sighed heavily and ran his hands down his face and shook his head as he walked back over to his bed and plopped down onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.

Before he knew it, his phone vibrated in the pocket of his jeans making him huff and pull it out to see it was a text from Iris.

see you tomorrow at daddy's fundraiser brunch?

of course, goodnight

Justin puffed out a small breath and licked his phone back and tossed it to the side and rubbed his tired eyes and before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep.

˚˚˚

The next morning, Justin walked into the kitchen and stopped himself once he saw Winnie, she was trying to reach for the box of cereal on top of the fridge — the problem was she was too short to reach.

She's not making this easy, Justin thought.

Justin shamelessly let his eyes glide down Winnie's body seeing that she was wearing a white crop top and light blue with a white trim on the side high bedroom shorts with her curls being tied into a messy bun.

Justin cleared his throat and shook his head causing Winnie to turn around and see him walk into the kitchen and walk over to the fridge and grab the cereal box for her.

Winnie stood back with no expression on her face as she watched Justin hold out the cereal for her making her take the cereal from his hands without a word spoken.

Justin cleared his throat and grabbed the other cereal box and watched Winnie sit down at the kitchen table and pour herself some Lucky Charms into her milk filled bowl.

Justin sighed softly and made his cereal in his bowl and placed the bowl back and headed out of the kitchen and toward the staircase — but only to stop with his left foot on the first step.

Cursing under his breath, he turned back around and headed for the kitchen again and stood at the entrance seeing Winnie eating a bowl of cereal and watching a YouTube video.

"I did this for you, Winnie. . .one day you'll forgive me. . .I hope."

Even though Justin couldn't see Winnie's face, she had paused from eating her cereal and creased her eyebrows before turning around.

"What do you—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed Justin had already walked away from the kitchen making her purse her lips and turn back around and continue to watch her video and eat cereal.

˚˚˚

Justin licked his lips and fixed his tie as he walked out of the bathroom and walked over to his mirror near the balcony door and checked himself out.

He was dressed casually but still formally with his white buttoned up shirt with the smoke gray v-neck vest on top with the black and white white striped tie tucked underneath the vest, his black slim slacks, and his shiny smoke gray dress shoes.

Finishing off his outfit, he walked over to his dresser and digged inside for his gold Rolex watch, once he found it, he placed it on his wrist and took his Ralph Lauren cologne and sprayed himself.

Justin had paused for a moment once his phone vibrated on his nightstand where it sat to charge, he walked over and picked it up and saw it was Iris texting him.

where are you?

on the way, babe. see you in a few

With that, Justin took his phone off the charger and dashed out of his bedroom and down the staircase and out of the house without giving it another thought.

Once he was outside, he took the car keys to the red Bentley out and unlocked the car and opened the door and slipped inside and put the key into the ignition as the sound of Tempo by Chris Brown began to play on the radio as he drove out.

˚˚˚

Winnie stepped out of the steamy shower and onto the towel on the floor before grabbing onto her towel folded on the metal rack next to the shower.

Once she did, she wrapped herself up and made her way into the bedroom and walked into her closet in search of some clothes to wear around the house.

After a few moments, she finally decided on a simple pastel pink bralette, gray high waisted leggings, and an oversized beige woven cardigan.

After slipping all of it on, she decided to pull her laptop back out and get back to writing again, she let out a breath and reread the last line of the story she had written.

Willow had found herself at a crossroad that she knew would have her mind in a warp for what seemed to now be the worst summer of all. But maybe it would change, she did have Pierce who was making her feel as if life on earth would be better than what it was on Cloud 9.

Winnie snapped out of thoughts when she heard the sound of a knocking followed by the doorbell ringing making her crease her eyebrows and jump up from the bed.

Winnie then dashed down the staircase and toward the front door and slowly unlocked the door and opened it to see Peter at the door making her heart flutter.

"Pete. . ."

"Hey, I thought I'd drop by, I was in the neighborhood."

Winnie rose an eyebrow. "Pete, our house is a fifteen minute drive from town."

"Okay, you caught me. . .I wanted to see you, I've been thinking about you."

"That's sweet, come in."

Peter nodded and walked inside the house as Winnie opened it more for him to come inside, once she shut the door back, she crossed her arms over her chest and watched Peter run a hand through his curly hair.

"Last time I was in here, I had the best s'mores known to man."

Winnie giggled. "No need to exaggerate."

"I'm a s'mores expert, I know these type of things."

"Oh yeah?"

Peter hummed in response followed by a nod as he bit his bottom lip momentarily and walked closer to Winnie and held her by the waist and pulled her closer as she rested her hands on his chest.

Winnie could feel herself getting excited as Peter's lips brushed over her lips before he finally took the chance to place them on hers slowly and passionately.

That's when Justin's words came to mind.

Winnie had suddenly slowly pulled her lips away from Peter's and pursed her lips as she fiddled with the collar of Peter's button up shirt making him crease his eyebrows. "You okay?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Just that you seem like. . .something's fogging your brain right now, is it the book?"

Winnie shook her head and sharply inhaled a breath. "I'm fine, Pete. . .honest."

Peter sighed softly and looked down into Winnie's big brown eyes and saw an emotion pooling then he couldn't quite put his finger on — but he didn't want to question her, he came to spend time with her.

"How about we do something fun?"

"Like?"

"Well. . .baking?"

"Baking?"

"I'm craving. . .cupcakes." Peter murmured softly as he held onto Winnie's waist a bit more as Winnie rose an eyebrow and let out a small giggle.

"Cupcakes?"

"Cupcakes are very masculine, thank you."

"Sure, let's go make some."

Peter nodded and let Winnie take him by the hands and drag him into the kitchen along with her to get started on baking the cupcakes.

˚˚˚

Justin looked down at the food on the long table and picked up a couple of strawberries before feeling a sudden tap on his shoulder making him turn around to see Iris.

She was dressed in an olive colored ribbed long sleeve two piece with olive colored strappy heels to match and her hair straightened with a part in the middle.

"Beautiful."

"And you look handsome yourself."

"Justin, I want you to meet Tony Fray, founder of Fray Feeds."

"I've heard of your business, you have restaurants everywhere, nice man."

Tony chuckled and shrugged. "Thanks. . .just hard work and determination."

"So what? You here by yourself?"

"Actually, I did have a date. . .I think she's in the restroom — ah, there she is."

Justin and Iris turned around to see a woman walking over with her head down typing away at her phone before putting it back in her purse and finally looking up.

It was Jade.

Jade was dressed in a white long sleeved off the shoulder top with ruffles on the top, high waisted pink dress pants rolled at the ankle, and nude strappy heels to match with her hair slicked up into a neat bun.

"Oh, small world, huh?"

Iris clenched her jaw momentarily. "Apparently too small it's suffocating almost."

"Well maybe you need to stop wearing such tight clothing, dear, might cut off some circulation." Jade spoke out as she walked over to Tony with a grin on her lips and linked arms with him.

"Tony, you know Jade?"

"Well we met just a few days ago, and I knew this brunch would be kind of lame, no offense, Iris. So I invited her as my plus one, she's so intriguing."

Justin chuckled and slipped his hands into the pocket of his slacks as he watched Jade take a glass of mimosa off a tray that a waitress carried on her way by.

"Wanna get some food, Jade?"

"One moment. . .Justin, a word?"

"Uh, yeah."

Jade hummed in response and walked toward the balcony of the room as Justin followed behind, once they were outside, Jade huffed and turned to face Justin.

"What's going on—"

Before Justin could finish his sentence, he felt Jade slap his left cheek making his head fly to the right as he scoff and held onto his cheek. "You're lucky it wasn't harder, you dick."

"You talked to Winnie. . ."

"She told me how you bad mouthed her about her and Peter, Justin that's downright disrespectful."

Justin sighed heavily. "I know. . .I messed up."

"Way to be a hypocrite, Mr. I go back to my ex to get over someone."

"Jade! I don't know how many times I have to tell you. . .I never liked Winnie."

"You expect me to believe that?"

Justin scoffed. "You don't have to. . .but it's the truth, I'm with Iris now."

"Justin, is this because—"

"Jade, I don't want to hear it! I came to enjoy myself and yes I did say some shitty stuff to Winnie, she'll get over it! But right now? I want to have fun with Iris, so please. . .go back to your date and as will I."

"But—"

Jade cut herself off as she watched Justin turn around quickly and head back inside to the brunch as Jade huffed and sipped some more of her mimosa and remained on the balcony a little while longer.

˚˚˚

"More flour?"

"Pete, anymore flour and we might have to remake the whole kitchen, there's such a mess right now!"

"At least the cupcakes are in the oven."

"Wanna taste the frosting?" Winnie asked as she stopped stirring the chocolate frosting and held the wooden spoon out to Peter.

Peter grinned and stopped stirring his vanilla frosting and leaned over to Winnie's spoon and tasted some of it making him moan at the sweet taste.

"I love chocolate."

Winnie giggled and went back to stirring the frosting as the sound of Dance To This by Troye Sivan started to play from Winnie's phone making Winnie hum the lyrics as she finished stirring.

"Oh you like that song, huh?"

"Of course."

Peter had stopped stirring once again and started to listen to the lyrics as Winnie began to throw away trash around her area — that's when the chorus kicked in.

A wide smile came to Peter's lips making him glide over to Winnie, considering the two were in their socks in the kitchen.

He then smoothly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him making her squeal as Peter started to sway side to side with Winnie in his arms. "Pete, what the hell are you doing?!"

"Dancing! Dance with me, like the song!"

Winnie felt his arms unwrap from her body making her turn around to face him with a wide smile on her lips as Peter's hands grabbed onto hers and made her dance with him.

Before she knew it, her and Peter were gliding across the kitchen to the song as they felt the music taking over as they did turns and spins and even a few dips while they were at it in their socks.

Before Winnie knew it, Peter had pulled her by her waist again and brought her close and placed his lips onto hers and instantly the mood changed — as did the kiss.

From being a passionate kiss, it became more intense as Peter's kisses traveled from Winnie's plump lips to her jawline and down to her neck making her shudder.

"Pete. . ."

Peter let the kisses on her neck linger before he pulled her up by her waist to sit her up on the kitchen island and wrap her legs around his waist as his kisses traveled to the valley of her breast making Winnie's breathing become rapid and uneven, as did Peter's.

Just when Peter was about to continue to kiss Winnie, the sound of the oven dinging made them pause and clear their throats as they separated and Winnie pulled her cardigan back up her arms and hopped off the kitchen island.

"Cupcake time?"

"Cupcake time."

˚˚˚

✨

✨

✨