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CHAPTER TWELVE

❝YOU DO KNOW THE DEFINITION OF A MISTRESS, RIGHT?❞

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Winnie walked out onto the back side of the house and brought her laptop with her so she could write a bit more of her novel, she sat down her bowl of fruit onto the small glass table and sat down in the straw made chair.

Just as she did, the sound of two clicks made her pause and look up to see a guy in the bushes with a large camera making her scream loud enough to shake the guy and make him fall out of the bushes.

As if on queue, Justin dashed outside with a rubber spatula in his hand as he dashed over to Winnie making her crease her eyebrows when she saw him. "What—"

"Is there a burglar?"

"No! Just one of your stupid paparazzi's!"

Justin creased his eyebrows and looked down at the paparazzi guy who was now trying to regain his composure making Justin snicker.

Ever since the news broadcast they made, the paparazzi have been all over Justin, his dad, Iris, and her father.

"Dude, get out of here, you've embarrassed yourself enough."

"But I just got some pictures of your mistress here."

"Mistress?" Justin and Winnie spoke at the same time making them give each other a disgusted look and then look back at the paparazzi guy.

"I can see the headlines now. . .Justin Bieber's secret woman cuddling him while his main woman cuddles a pillow."

Winnie creased her eyebrows. "You do know the definition of a mistress. . .right?"

"Yeah, Iris and I aren't even married."

Jesus Christ, Winnie thought.

"Come on! Let me do my job!"

"Yeah? And how about I do mine and kick your ass?" Justin asked as he tilted his head to the side making Winnie watch the action.

Damn, Winnie thought.

"But—"

Justin scoffed. "Okay, time to go, dude."

"But—"

"I have a spatula. . .and I ain't afraid to use it."

My fucking hero, Winnie thought.

Winnie rolled her eyes and watched the paparazzi guy crease his eyebrows and rise up from the ground and make his way out the back way and hopping the fence to exit.

"Wait, come back!"

The paparazzi guy cleared his throat and slowly turned around and walked back over to Justin and saw him hold his hand out.

Sighing heavily, he took the cartridge out of the camera and handed it to Justin making him smirk and watch him head back to the fence to hop it.

Justin puffed out a breath and looked down at Winnie seeing her looking up at him with a small closed mouth smile, she then simply cleared her throat and opened her laptop.

Justin wanted to have just a simple conversation with her right about now, even if it's just a conversation about what the weather for the day would be even though he could look it up in his phone.

But instead, he bit the inside of his cheek and headed back into the house without uttering a word as Winnie covered her mouth and watched Justin walk away.

Today makes a week without speaking, Winnie thought.

Winnie puffed out a shaky breath as she opened up the last page of her novel that she was on and scanned over what she previously wrote before starting to type some more.

Willow felt like the world was fighting with her just like how David and Goliath had fought centuries before. But in this case, she wasn't David, she was being treated as Goliath and it hurt her to her heart. Where could she turn? Who could she confide in?

Trust seemed to be a myth in Willow's word once again.

Winnie stopped typing at the sound of her phone vibrating on the small glass table, she licked her lips and picked a grape from her fruit bowl as she grabbed her phone.

Winnie unlocked her phone and saw it was a message from Peter.

why is there paparazzi at the front of your house?

jesus, i'm sorry, i can make them go, give me like 10 minutes

gotcha, i'll come inside

Winnie didn't even get to see Peter's last text simply because she rushed out of her seat to head to get dressed, she dashed into the house and went upstairs just as the doorbell rang.

Justin rose an eyebrow and paused the television and walked out of the living room and walked over to the door and opened it to see Peter.

Instead of speaking, Peter slid inside quickly trying to dodge the paparazzi as his eyes remained squinted making Justin snicker and slam the door shut. "Sorry about that, man."

"It's fine. . .why are they here?"

"It's this thing with my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? Huh, it's that Ivy girl that was here?"

Justin cleared his throat. "Iris."

"Right. . .so where's Winnie?"

"Right here."

Peter and Justin turned around to see Winnie walking down the staircase dressed in a tan t-shirt under white overalls shorts with her white converse on her feet and her purse to her side with her curls hanging low.

"Ready?"

"Yeah. . .but how do we dodge the paparazzi?"

Winnie didn't know what to say, she looked over at Justin expecting him to say something, but instead he pursed his lips and left them and headed back to the living room.

Asshole, Winnie thought.

Winnie sighed softly and pulled Peter's hands into hers and pulled him close. "Just run like hell."

Peter chuckled and watched Winnie get on her tippy toes a tad bit and peck his lips and take him by the hands to the door.

Winnie and Peter opened the door and headed out quickly and dashed all the way to Peter's truck and luckily didn't get chased for long once they jumped inside.

Meanwhile, Justin sat down on the couch again and groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair and briefly shut his eyes.

The sound of his phone singing made him open his eyes slowly and reach into the pocket of his basketball shorts and pull it out to see it was a text from his father.

can you meet me? downtown, 30 minutes.

sure, on my way

Justin jumped up from the couch and jogged upstairs to change his clothes, after a few minutes, he changed into a dark blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his bicep, tan jeans, and white Nike sneakers with a gold Rolex.

After grabbing his keys and phone, Justin headed outside and squinted his eyes at the sudden flashes hitting his eyes.

Now I remember why I went on vacation, Justin thought.

Justin puffed out a breath and dodged through the crowd to his Bentley, unlocking the door and getting inside, Justin didn't start the car just yet — instead he sat inside and sighed heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Being famous was tiring, it was the main reason Justin had taken the vacation, it wasn't just about the money and always getting what you wanted. Justin just wanted to know what it's like to be normal for once in his life, he had been in the spotlight since he was in his mother's womb, getting away from everything made Justin feel like a normal 26 year old.

Brushing aside his thoughts, he sighed softly and put the key into the ignition as the sound of Better Now by Post Malone started to play.

Hearing the heard the engine roar, he put it in drive and looked over to the passenger seat and picked up his shades and placed them on his face and headed out to meet his dad.

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Justin slid out of his car and gave the valet his keys and nodded to him as he headed into the hotel and took his shades off, putting them in the pocket of his shirt as he looked around for his dad.

After a few seconds of looking, he found him at the first seat of the bar to the left of the hotel, he sighed softly and walked over to the bar and headed inside.

The soft sound of jazz playing from the stage was heard as Justin walked inside and slid onto the seat next to his father and saw his father gulp down his shot of what looked like vodka.

"Little too early to be drinking, don't you think?"

Jeremy groaned. "I've had a rough morning."

"Paparazzi?"

"Damn straight. . .what happened to the old news reporters? You know, maybe about one or two reporters on your front lawn a week."

Justin chuckled and waved a hand for the bartender to come over. "Time has changed. . .can I get some scotch?"

The bartender nods and turns around to fix the drink as Justin watches his father stare down into the empty glass momentarily and then look up to Justin.

Even though the bar was dimly lit, Justin could see that his father's eyes were bloodshot red and he had bags circling around his faded brown eyes.

"You okay, dad? Not getting any sleep?"

"I wish that was the problem, son. . .I wish."

"What—"

"Here's your drink, sir. . .," The bartender spoke, interrupting Justin and looking over to Jeremy and raising an eyebrow. "Another round, sir?"

Jeremy shook his head and fixed his blazer as the bartender nodded and took his glass away to go clean, leaving Justin and his father to talk.

"Dad."

"Hm?"

"What's wrong?"

Jeremy paused and stared at Justin in the eye, and honestly, it threw Justin off a bit. It had been a while since he'd stared Justin in the eyes and really gotten a look at his son — he was grown up and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Dad, talk to me."

"Justin. . .I'm dying."

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Winnie giggled softly as Peter put his truck in park just a few inches from Winnie's driveway as Winnie popped another kernel into her mouth from the popcorn they took from the movie theater.

"Did you enjoy the movie?"

"How could I? You kept kissing me, Pete."

Peter chuckled. "I was hoping you'd catch my drift."

Winnie rolled her eyes playfully and threw a kernel at Peter before leaning over to him and pecking his lips a couple a time, each peck feeling more passionate than the last.

After pulling their lips away, Winnie rested her forehead against Peter's as he looked down at her lips as he licked his and looked into her eyes. "Winnie?"

"Hm?"

"You know. . .it's been a few days since you know. . ."

Winnie pursed her lips and moved her forehead away from Peter's. "Yeah. . ."

"I mean, I'm not rushing you or anything. . .I just you now, don't wanna get my hopes up—"

"I'm sorry, Pete."

"Sorry?"

"Yeah. . .just give me a few more days? My mind has been jumbled up and the novel. . ."

Peter chuckled and patted the wheel. "It's fine, just give me a call, Winnie."

Winnie nodded slowly and cleared her throat before leaning back over to Peter and giving his cheek a kiss making him smile softly as Winnie returned the gesture and opened the door.

Shutting his truck door, she waved and watched Peter wave back before driving off as she walked down the driveway and took her keys out of her purse.

After she did, she looked up and stopped herself when she saw Iris sitting on the steps making her crease her eyebrows as she watched Iris look at her and slowly rose up to walk over to her.

Be strong, Winnie, Winnie thought.

"Winnie, can we talk?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Iris rolled her eyes. "Inside, Winnie."

"I-I. . .whatever you have to tell me can be said right here, right now."

Iris clenched her jaw and huffed as she looked anywhere but Winnie's eyes for a moment, she then cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine, if that's how you want to play. . .I think I'm pregnant."

Winnie felt her heart start to thud so fast in her chest as she went into a bit of shock and let her popcorn and keys drop from her hold onto the ground as Iris watched the action.

Pregnant? Winnie thought.

Now couldn't have been the worst time.

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