You Light Up the Sky Like Lightning

Chapter Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty-Six

It only took five minutes to get to the park. Apparently Jeremy's definition of 'park' was different than mine. Mine consisted of a playground with swings, monkey-bars, and slides. Jeremy's consisted of an open field with a few benches and flower patches here and there. 

Jeremy, Kenny, Ry Good, and Pattie took Jazzy and Jaxon to do whatever. Actually, Jaxon was asleep still, so it was whatever Jazzy wanted to do. 

Carin, Justin, and I found a bench and sat down. 

"Hey Justin? Landry?" Carin asked. 

"Yeah?" we both said. Justin intertwined his hands with mine, and I laid my head against his shoulder. 

"Do you know why Scooter has been so distant these past few days?" she asked. 

Oops. Forgot that she didn't know. 

I lifted my head and looked at Justin. He was looking at me with an expression that read, 'should we tell her?'

I nodded, and Justin agreed. 

"Carin . . ." Justin started, but his voice faltered when he wasn’t able to find the right words. "Scooter, uh . . . Scooter is the one who hired Cameron."

Carin froze. 

All of a sudden, a blank, empty silence covered the area. The sun went behind a cloud, and I swear I heard a kid in the background start to cry. 

Talk about timing. 

"He . . . what?" she asked, searching for words. Her jaw was dropped open, and shock was clear across her face. Obviously, she wasn’t expecting that.  

I just looked away. I expected Carin to cry or something, but instead, she got really, really mad. 

"That son of a bitch! I can't believe him! And to his own niece! What-"

"Carin!" Justin shouted. 

She stopped. Her face was bright red. 

"I'll be back later," she said quickly before hopping up off the bench and storming back to the hotel.  

Maybe we shouldn't have told her . . .

Justin looked at me. "Well, Scooter's screwed."

I laughed. "Come on," I said, slowly getting up. "Let's go for a walk."

Justin nodded and followed me up. He attached his left hand to my right, and I leaned my head against his shoulder as we started to walk slowly down the sidewalk. We waved to Jeremy, Ryan, and Kenny as we passed them, and they waved back. Jazzy was climbing on Ry, and I sort of felt bad for him. It was funny though. She was jumping up and down on his feet and pulling on his pants to try to get his attention. I think she just succeeded in almost pulling his pants down. And it was also funny to watch Kenny- this huge guy- hold little Jaxon. 

Justin and I walked a little ways so that there weren’t a lot of people around. It was nice to be out with just him for a little while.

Justin helped me sit down in the soft, green grass. He sat down directly behind me and put his legs on either side of me. He was very careful not to hit any part of my body where it would cause me pain, and I was so thankful for that. 

"Close your eyes," Justin whispered. 

I smiled and leaned against his warm chest, closing my eyes. 

I felt Justin reach around my right side and stop in front of me. 

"Okay, open," he whispered, pecking my left cheek- which was not the one with the bruise. 

I opened my eyes to see that he was holding one of those little yellow dandelion flowers. 

I laughed and turned just my head to peck his cheek. "You're cute," I said. 

He laughed. "I'm just kidding, close your eyes again."

I furrowed my eyebrows and cocked my head to the side. “Why?”

Justin snickered. "Just do it."

I smiled and turned back around so I was leaning against his chest again. I closed my eyes and waited. 

While I was waiting- because whatever he was doing was taking a while- I inhaled deeply. His cologne was Dolce and Gabbana, and it smelled really good. It suited him perfectly. 

"Okay," Justin whispered, again into my ear. “Open.”

I reopened my eyes and gasped. He was holding this giant, colorful, beautiful, bouquet of flowers wrapped in clear cellophane. 

He came around me and squatted in font of me. "I love you," he said in a baby voice. 

I smiled and giggled. "And I love you too, Justin."

He handed me the bouquet, and I smiled more. 

“Do you like them?”

“Are you kidding? I love them! They’re so beautiful.”

He smiled, but then his eyes flickered to my lips. It didn’t last long because they quickly left them for my eyes again. He'd been very hesitant to kiss me on my lips ever since the incident happened. He thought that he would accidentally hit the bruise or somehow hurt my ribs- I still didn't understand that one. 

So instead, I pushed myself up to my knees and put my lips on his- despite the sudden pain in that darted through my ribs as I moved. He smiled through the kiss, though, making me smile as well. 

He gently pushed me back to the ground so I was sitting again. It was like he knew I was hurting, and he wanted to make sure I didn't. He was so sweet. He makes my pain go away. 

When he pulled away, we were both all smiles. 

"Justin?" I asked as he positioned himself next to me now. 

"Hmm?"

"Why did you get me these?" I asked, referring to the flowers. "You didn't have to."

"I know I didn't," he said. "But I wanted to. You deserved something after everything you've been through."

I smiled and leaned against his arm. "Justin, I have you. That's all I need."