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CHAPTER TWO

❝TELL MY FATHER I ACCIDENTALLY DROPPED MY PHONE INTO THE PIER.❞

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"This is Natalie Davis here reporting the latest news on everything celebrities."

Winnie groaned and threw down a shirt into her open and unfinished suitcase the minute she heard the sound of the television get louder from her room.

She sighed heavily and stomped out of her room and into the living room to see her mother on the couch listening to E! News.

"Mom, why are you watching that mess?"

"I knew had heard that boys name before. . .," Elaine murmured softly as she paused the television and pointed at it with the remote. "That Bieber boy you told me about?"

"What?"

Winnie creased her eyebrows and walked over to the back of the couch and saw her mom point at the television again with the remote seeing that she paused it on a picture of Justin reluctantly.

It had a recent picture of him dressed in an all black suit while he was talking on the phone leaving out of a building.

"Mom, what are they saying about him?"

"He's rich!"

No kidding, Winnie thought.

"Mom, press play."

Elaine pressed play and let the woman talk again as Winnie walked around the couch and sat down next to her mom and licked her lips.

"We just got word that the Millionaire Man is set to being going off the grid for the rest of the summer. He's recently bought out a beach house in Santa Monica, what we wanna know is. . .will our Million Dollar Man have any luck this summer having fun? If you know what I mean."

Winnie scrunched her face up and shook her head at the sound of Natalie's laugh making her take the remote from her mom's hands and turn the television off.

"Sure, baby, I was done anyway."

Winnie puffed out a breath and rubbed her temples. "I'm sorry. . .I just. . ."

"Baby, don't let that man distract you from your goals. That's not what your father would've wanted, you hear me?"

Winnie let her mother's words sink as she looked down at her lap. Elaine twisted her lips to the side and brought Winnie closer to her to rest her head on her chest while Winnie held onto her forearm.

"I miss him."

"I do too, baby. . .I do too."

Winnie and Elaine remained in their position for what seemed like forever before Elaine sniffed and rubbed Winnie's arm one last time.

"Baby, you need to finish packing."

"Right, it's almost time for my cab to come."

Winnie hopped up from the couch and fixed her clothes and dashed back into her bedroom to finish packing while Elaine sighed softly and turned the television back on.

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The sound of a horn blowing made Winnie jump up from the kitchen table so fast that Elaine's eyes went wide as she stopped cooking.

"Winnie! Your food!"

"I'll take it to go!" Winnie shouted from her bedroom as she took her two black suitcases in her grasp and rolled them to the front door.

She dashed back into her bedroom and got a few last minute things and put them in her bag before dashing back out to the front door where Elaine stood with the food ready.

Winnie sighed and gave Elaine one last smile and a somewhat long hug before pulling away and getting her suitcases and heading out to the cab.

The man smiled and rolled the window down just as Winnie dashed over to his window, almost out of breath. "Could you pop the trunk?"

The man nodded and pressed a button from inside the cab and Winnie heard the pop of the trunk making her thank him and hurriedly putting her suitcases in the trunk and shutting it back.

Winnie let out a small breath and then smiled wide as she walked over to the backseat and opened the door, just before she got inside, she waved to her mother who was standing at the front door waving back.

Winnie giggled and then slipped inside the cab and told the man where to go and he was off and taking Winnie to Santa Monica

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"Listen, dad, I'm going regardless of what you think right about now."

Justin sighed heavily and listened to his father yelling at him through the phone, it was a surprise Justin could still hear, his father was so loud he didn't need to be put on speaker.

"Yes dad, I know. But I'm 26 and I deserve a break, I love you, I'll call you later."

And with that, Justin hurriedly hung up the phone before his father could disagree with him some more about the vacation.

Justin groaned and ran a hand through his hair and licked his lips as he turned around to see his chauffeur, Frank, standing at the driver's door of Justin's limousine chuckling.

"You think that's funny, huh?"

"Your old man still has some lungs on him, eh?" Frank asked as he chuckled and folded up his newspaper and opened the door to put it in the passenger seat.

"Yeah. . .I really won't miss his screaming while I'm on vacation."

Frank laughed and shook his head. "Well, we should head on, correct?"

"The quicker, the better."

Frank chuckled and walked to Justin's door and opened it for him and watched as he placed his phone back into his buttoned up shirt pocket and looked back at his mansion momentarily.

He then turned around and proceeded to getting inside the limousine, once he was inside, Frank shut the door back and got into the driver's seat and started the engine and drove out of Justin's long driveway.

Just when Justin leaned back in his seat and opened up a bottle of scotch to pour into his glass, the sound of Frank rolling down the window made him look up and look at him through the rear view mirror.

"Heard the news this morning?"

"Yeah, how the hell do they know I'm going to Santa Monica?"

"Beats me, sir. . .," Frank spoke as he shrugged his shoulders and heard Justin sigh making him look back in the mirror and seeing him gulp down the scotch. "What do you plan to do?"

"I'll still enjoy myself, Frank. . .I'm getting my money's worth."

Frank smiled and nodded and rolled the window back up and went back to focusing on driving as Justin leaned back in his seat and put the glass down and started drinking the scotch straight from the bottle.

To say he was nervous about publicity while in Santa Monica was an understatement.

God help me, Justin thought.

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Winnie woke up to the feel of a hard bump making the cab jump up, the hit was so hard Winnie hit her head on the window making her hiss in pain and groan.

"Sorry about that, it was a pothole and a big rock!"

Winnie huffed. "How unfortunate."

"Bright side, we'll be there in less than five."

"Good."

"So uh. . .what is your reason for coming here?"

"I'm a writer, this is my first novel." Winnie murmured softly as she rubbed her tired eye and hissed when he softly touched her now sore head.

"Really? I like books, what's it going to be about?"

"I haven't decided yet, but I write romance."

The man chuckled softly. "Romance?"

"Yes. . .problem?"

"They're just. . .so fake, giving people false hope of love. . .like Fifty Shades Of Grey."

"That's an erotic novel and second of all, romance novels don't give false hope. They're what give people hope."

"Hope?"

Winnie nodded and bit her bottom lip softly as she looked out the window at the road and noticed them coming up on a dirt driveway.

"Here we are, ma'am."

Winnie gasped softly and rolled the window down quickly and stuck her head out of the window and smiled wide as she looked at the beautiful house before her.

"Whoa. . .it looks even better in person."

"Need help with your bags?"

"Nope, thank you." Winnie murmured softly as she reached into her purse for her wallet and took out the money she owed the man.

Once he took the money, he popped the trunk for Winnie as she thanked him and took her suitcases out and waved to him and walked up the driveway toward the house.

Once Winnie was at the front door, she took a moment and let out a breath and smiled wide as she let out a low squeal and took the home key out of her purse.

Once she placed the key into the keyhole, she paused for a moment and closed her eyes as she thought over her father's words.

Have courage and be brave.

Winnie let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding as she slowly fluttered her eyes open and turned the key and opened the door to the house, she gasped as she looked at the interior.

"This place is amazing. . ."

Winnie looked around a bit and before she knew it, she was in the living room and she gasped when she saw the beautiful decor of it.

Winnie smiled so wide she thought her cheeks were about to start hurting, she giggled and walked backwards and ended up in the kitchen with the same beautiful decor.

"Wow. . ."

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Winnie recognized the voice and was instantly snapped out of her happy mood making her purse her lips and turn around to see Justin leaning on the wall of the entrance to the kitchen.

"Yes."

"So, are the rooms any good? Or were you waiting for me?"

Winnie laughed at his dumb comment and hissed when she felt her head get a sharp pain making Justin crease his eyebrows and walk over to her and see her holding onto the sore spot.

"What—"

"Pothole. . .and a big rock."

"Ah." Justin spoke softly as he turned around and took the cloth off the counter and walked over to the fridge and opened the left sides door.

Winnie creased her eyebrows and watched Justin reach his hands into a white box and pull out three pieces of ice and put it in the cloth and shut the fridge back.

He then turned around and gave a closed mouth smile and gave Winnie the cloth as she squinted her eyes and hesitantly took the cloth. "Thanks. . ."

"Yep."

"This doesn't mean you get the good room."

"Damn. . .guess I'll just have to race ya!"

"What? No!"

Winnie squealed as she fought to get past Justin and he did the same, they both ended up making it to the staircase and Winnie was in the front when she opened the first door on the left.

Winnie gasped and looked at the beautiful room and smiled wide as she looked back at Justin. "I call this one, Bieber."

Justin smacked his teeth and slipped his hands in his pockets as him and Winnie walked into her room and looked around.

"This room is so beautiful!"

"Hm, yeah. . ."

"What? Stop acting like this house is shitty, let's go see your room."

Justin rolled his eyes as Winnie pushed him out of her room and into the hallway and into the room across from Winnie's.

Justin opened the door and looked around at the decor and smacked his teeth as he nodded and looked around, trying to get a good feel of the room.

"I mean, it's probably nothing compared to your place. . .but it's gorgeous."

"Eh, it'll have to do."

Winnie rolled her eyes playfully. "Drama queen."

Just when Justin opened his mouth to speak, Justin and Winnie were interrupted by the sound of a knocking of Justin's room door.

They both turn around to see Frank with Justin's luggage in his hands at the entrance of the door.

"Ah, thanks, Frank."

"No problem, sir, are you all good here?"

"Yes, and tell my father I accidentally dropped my phone into a pier."

Frank smirked and nodded as Justin chuckled and gave Frank a handshake and watched Frank head out of the room and out of the house, leaving Justin and Winnie alone again.

"Wow, why lie to your dad?"

"He's a pain in my ass."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, listen, this is my trip away from him? I'd rather not spend it talking about him, you get me?"

Winnie scoffed. "Sure, I'm going to unpack."

"I'm headed out."

"What? Where? With what car?"

"Calm down, Sherlock. Uber is everywhere."

Winnie smacked her teeth and nodded as she took the ice cloth off her head and walked out of Justin's room, just when she got to the entrance, she stopped when she heard Justin talking.

"Care to join me?"

"No. . .I'm okay."

"You sure? Aren't you hungry?"

Winnie turned around to face Justin. "My mom gave me some food, I'll just heat it up."

"Well. . .alright."

Winnie nodded and pursed her lips as she saw Justin shut his door making her sigh and turn around and walk into her room to unpack.

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Justin looked at himself in the bathroom mirror at his outfit, he was dressed in an olive bomber jacket with a white button up with the first two buttons undone to show off his chest tattoos underneath, dark blue jeans, white vans, and a gold Rolex on his wrist.

Justin licked his lips and looked down at his phone and saw that it said his Uber has arrived, he turned off the bathroom light and grabbed his shades off the bed and headed out of his bedroom and down the hallway and down the staircase.

Once he was at the last step, he stepped into the kitchen to see Winnie dancing to Slide by Calvin Harris that she was playing from her phone through her speaker as she waited for her food to warm up.

Justin laughed and walked back out of the kitchen and headed to the front door and opened it and spoke out before leaving.

"I'm headed out!"

"Okay!"

Justin walked out the door and shut the door back and locked it as Winnie heard the ding from her food in the microwave.

She took her food out slowly and felt her mouth water at the sweet smell of her mother's cooking, she shut the microwave back and walked around a bit as she dug her fork into her collard greens.

Winnie walked a bit until she ended up at the door that lead her outside making her do a double take as she saw the campfire pit and couch set up.

"Oh fire pit, we're going to be great friends."

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Justin walked over to the bar and sat down on a stool and cleared his throat as the bartender walked over to him while cleaning a glass.

"What can I get ya, man?"

"Uh. . .just some Ciroc?"

"Straight up?"

"Yeah, man."

The bartender nodded and walked away from Justin to fix his drink, Justin took the time to turn around and look at the crowd on the beach and see most people dancing.

The sound of Solo by Clean Bandit blasted from the DJ on the other end of the beach making Justin bop his head to the music.

"It's not really my type of crowd either."

Justin rose an eyebrow and turned to his left and saw a beautiful brunette sitting on the stool two seats down from his turned around just like him.

Justin lowered his shades on the bridge of his nose as he checked her out. "Really?"

"Yeah. . .I'm just here with my family."

"Business or pleasure trip?"

She bit her lip softly. "I wish it was pleasure."

Justin chuckled and went to speak again but her the sound of the bartender placing his drink down onto the counter for him.

He turned around and thanked him as he gave him a twenty and told him to keep the change, he then looked over at the girl again and noticed her drinking a martini.

"Give her two more of those martinis, on me."

The girl smiled softly and picked up her drink and stood up to walk over to Justin and he couldn't get over how beautiful she looked, her curvy body made Justin lick his lips.

She was dressed in a black skin tight two piece outfit with a white shoulder length cardigan to match with black sandal heels on her feet.

She smirked and sat down on the stool next to Justin and stuck her hand out for Justin to shake.

"I'm Iris, Iris Baxter."

Justin took his shades off slowly and reached out for her hand to give it a kiss. "Justin, Justin Bieber."

"Well, Mr. Bieber, what do you say we take these martinis to go?"

"What's the rush, baby. . .patience is key."

"I see, otherwise that tattoo behind your ear would be worthless."

The bartender sat the drinks down and Justin didn't even realize he did, he just pulled out another twenty and sat it down as he kept eye contact with Iris.

"Let's forget the drinks. . ."