The Love I Need

Chapter 36

--BEFORE--

"Hey, girly." Justin hops over the back of the couch to sit next to me and lays his head on my shoulder. "Do you want to go grab some dinner with me?"

I shrug my opposite shoulder while thinking about it. "What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, but there's this place... Food is always amazing there. You'll like it."

"I don't know, Just..."

It's been a few weeks since Justin and I hooked up in the bathroom and he sent Bébé packing. She's yet to make an appearance again which I have mixed feelings about.

I've explained to Justin a couple of times that I don't want a relationship with him. Both times, he nodded along and insisted he doesn't do relationships anyway. And yet, he hasn't slept with anyone since starting to sleep with me. I don't like Bébé and I don't necessarily want Justin to sleep with her, but if he did I'd at least know that he isn't completely caught up in the idea of the two of us together.

Justin sits up from my shoulder and pulls a leg onto the couch while he turns his body toward me. "C'mon, Lia. It's not a date. I just want some company while I eat some good food, and I know you're not the worst company."

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"Great!" He leans in to plant a kiss on my lips and then gets up from the couch. "Can you be ready in thirty? I'm running out to get cigarettes and some drinks for later tonight. We can head out when I get back?"

I nod my head, and Justin grins at me before walking to the door.

An hour later, he finally returns. He walks in the door with an open beer in his hand and gestures for me to come with him.

"You said thirty minutes, Justin," I grumble as I walk toward him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a little late. You ready?"

"You're going with him?" Adam pipes up from the recliner. He returned from working in the garage after Justin left so he missed our earlier conversation. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Justin?"

Fucking Adam, always trying to put his nose in our business.

"We're just getting food, Adam. It's not like we're going to elope," I counter.

"Just getting food, eh?" he repeats, giving a pointed look at Justin.

"Yeah. Dinner," Justin replies. He slightly shakes his head at Adam.

Adam sighs and turns back to the TV. "You're an idiot, Justin."

"Well, no one's denying that," Justin laughs, then takes my hand. "Let's get out of here, gorgeous. I'm starving."

----------

"Where the hell are we?"

I started getting suspicious once we had been driving for more than fifteen minutes, but Justin wouldn't tell me shit. He seemed a little antsy and kept saying the food would be good once we got there but that was all I could get out of him.

But now, as we drive up to what I'd consider a mansion, surrounded by a tall, iron-gated fence, I am past merely suspicious.

Justin doesn't answer my question as he stops the car in front of the gate. He opens the window and reaches out for the keypad, entering six numbers before placing his hands back on the steering wheel.