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CHAPTER TEN

❝IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY WAY TO FIX THIS THEN YOU'RE FIRED.❞

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"Winnie?"

Winnie walked through the crowd of people and stood right in front of the counter and smiled at the barista and thanked her for her latte and walked back through the crowd over to Jade who sat at the usual place she sat with her iced tea.

Once Winnie sat down, she took a few sips of her latte and sat her purse down next to her as she rose an eyebrow at Jade.

"You said something was wrong?"

"How's Justin?"

"Fine?" Winnie spoke out as more of a question making Jade crease her eyebrows and snicker as she sipped her tea some more. "Okay, not really."

"Thought so."

"We haven't talked in six days. . .should I be worried, Jade?"

"Well, all I can say is that something's up with him."

Winnie bit the inside of her cheek momentarily. "Should I just talk to him?"

"It's up to you, Winnie. . .I mean when we talked — nevermind."

"What? No no, you don't get to do that, what happened?" Winnie asked in a whisper as she leaned forward and heard Jade sigh softly and shake her head.

"It's not my place to tell, Winnie."

Winnie huffed and slumped her shoulders in her seat as she went back to drinking her latte and as did Jade with her tea as the two sat in silence.

Winnie's phone had suddenly started to vibrate on the table making her crease her eyebrows and pick it up to see it was a text from Peter making her smile and unlock her phone to reply.

mind if you come over later?

my grandma has been bothering me to see you again

aw, i'd love to 😌 see you soon

Winnie smiled and giggled softly as she sat her phone back down and looked up to Jade seeing her raise an eyebrow with a grin on her lips.

"What?"

"You look like a love struck puppy."

Winnie scoffed. "I do not."

"You're so giggly and bubbly when Peter texts you! I'm surprised I've never met the guy before."

"Well why don't you come with me today? I'm sure Pete won't mind."

Jade hummed in response and went back to finish up her tea as Winnie smiled and patted her arm on the table and hopped up from her seat. "Gotta go, I'll text you."

Jade nodded and smiled as she watched Winnie dash out of the coffee store and out to the street where the black Bentley was parked and hopped inside and headed off to the beach house.

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"Pass the salt and pepper, please."

Justin smacked his teeth and passed Iris what she asked for and leaned against the kitchen island and watched her cook her special soup from a distance.

Feeling eyes on her, Iris creased her eyebrows and looked over at Justin and smiled softly as she saw him staring at her while biting his bottom lip softly.

"What?"

"Have I told you that you look sexy while you cook?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. . .," Justin murmured softly as he released his bottom lip from his teeth and walked behind Iris and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. "Might just have to skip dinner tonight."

Iris giggled softly and grabbed Justin's face momentarily as he kissed the palm of her hand and let her finish cooking before stepping back.

Just then, the sound of footsteps were heard and Winnie walked into the kitchen making Justin and Iris go quiet at her arrival.

Winnie simply brushed it aside and cleared her throat and headed to the fridge for what she came for, she opened it up and got her water bottle and half eaten watermelon from this morning and shut it back.

Without another thought, she turned around and headed upstairs to her bedroom, leaving Justin and Iris alone in the kitchen again as Justin leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed.

"Iris?"

"Hm?"

"Do I have to ignore her? I mean she lives under the same roof as me for God's sake."

Iris huffed and turned around. "If you want us to work, you have to trust me, okay?"

"Okay. . ."

Iris smiled and walked over to Justin slowly and cupped his cheeks and pecked his lips a couple of times making them both moan and laugh before pulling away.

"I'm going to take a shower, okay?"

Iris hummed in response and reached over to her phone and went into her Apple Music and let the sound of Hands To Myself by Selena Gomez start to play as she got started on cooking the green beans.

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Winnie walked into her closet in search for an outfit and hummed to the tune of Try Again by Aaliyah playing on her speaker.

She twisted her lips upwards and looked around for a few more minutes before finding a white long sleeve top, a pink button up denim skirt, and a brown belt to accessorize.

After putting on her clothes, she went to the bathroom to style her hair when she heard a knock at her door, she walked out of the bathroom with a bobby pin in her hold as she opened the door with her free hand.

Once she opened it, she paused when she saw Justin at the door, the two looked at each other for what seemed like forever — but it was simply only a few seconds.

Justin cleared his throat. "Jade's here. . ."

"She can come up."

Justin gave a closed mouth smile and walked away from Winnie's door and headed down the staircase to tell Jade to come up.

Once he was gone, Winnie let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and shook her head as she went back to the bathroom to style her hair.

Hearing footsteps and a door shut, she peeped her head out to see Jade dressed in a black spaghetti strapped skin tight jumpsuit with a denim jacket wrapped around her waist and some checkered vans on her feet with her curls hanging down on her shoulders.

"You look cute."

"Thanks, so. . .are you sure your boyfriend won't mind me coming?"

Winnie chuckled softly. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Really? I thought—"

"Jade, stop being nosy!"

Jade rolled her eyes and plopped down onto the edge of Winnie's bed. "It's my job, I gotta keep up with all the tea."

Winnie giggled softly and shook her head, even though Jade couldn't see her, she then finished styling her hair and walked out of the bathroom to her closet and slipped on her socks and high top converse.

"Ready?"

"Yep. . .you know Wicked Witch of the West is downstairs, right?"

"Probably sucking Justin's face off."

Jade snickered. "Worse, she's cooking."

Winnie rolled her eyes and shook her head as she walked over to her bed and picked up her purse, keys, and phone and walked to the door with Jade behind her as they headed downstairs.

Once they got to the middle of the house, Jade walked into the kitchen and scrunched her nose up when she saw Iris sitting on Justin's lap and feeding him her food she cooked.

Jade pursed her lips and cleared her throat as she reached into her purse and grabbed a scrap piece of paper and a pen and slammed it down onto the counter and started to write something down.

"What're you writing?"

"Poison control's number, you might need it." Jade spoke as she finished writing and winked at Iris and placed her pen back into her purse.

Iris clenched her jaw and watched her head out of the kitchen and over to Winnie who stood at the door biting back a laugh as Jade approached her.

"You're so petty."

"Oh, you love it."

Winnie shook her head as her and Jade giggled as they headed out of the house and slamming the door behind them and heading over to Winnie s car and heading out to Peter's house.

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Winnie slammed the door to the car shut and checked the time on her phone and saw it was almost 8 o'clock as her and Jade walked up to Peter's doorstep.

Knocking on the door, they both stood back and waited for a moment before hearing the door unlock and seeing the door open and Peter open the door and smile down at Winnie and give Jade a confused expression.

"Winnie?"

"Pete. . .this is my friend, Jade. Jade, this is Pete."

Jade extended her hand out for Peter to shake making him smile and shake her hand as Peter rose an eyebrow at Winnie seeing her lips pursed.

"I didn't know you were bringing a friend, I would've made some more pasta."

"Oo, I love pasta!"

"So does my grandma. . .come on in."

Winnie and Jade looked at each other before heading into Peter's house as he opened the door for them to come inside, once they came in, he shut the door and walked over to Winnie and gently tugged her elbow.

"A word?"

Winnie nodded slowly and looked over to Jade seeing her walking into the kitchen and already starting a talk up with Peter's grandma as her and Peter headed back outside and onto his porch.

"I'm sorry, I should've told you that I was bringing her. . .I didn't think you'd mind."

"Yeah, I wouldn't just. . .not tonight."

Winnie creased her eyebrows. "What's happening tonight?"

Peter laughed nervously and looked away from Winnie making her raise an eyebrow and take Peter's hands into hers making him look down at her.

"Pete?"

"I. . .I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend."

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Iris rolled off of Justin and let out a breath as she covered herself with the sheets as Justin puffed out a breath and ran a hand through his hair and briefly shut his eyes.

"Wow. . ."

"I know."

Justin and Iris sat in silence as they both tried to regain their regular breathing pace, Justin took the time to look over at Iris and see her long dark brown hair sprawl across his pillows.

Iris looked over to Justin and let out a soft laugh and let her hand reach out and touch his cheek. "What's up with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been looking at me a certain way all night. . .is there something you wanna say, Bieber?"

Justin softly bit his bottom lip as he slowly reached his hand up to touch Iris's hand and give her palm a kiss making her heart flutter.

Before he knew it, the sound of the doorbell going off made them both huff and remove themselves from each other as Justin rolled out of bed and searched for his boxers and jeans.

After finding them, he jogged out of the bedroom and down the staircase to the door, once he opened it, he saw it was his father making him sigh heavily.

"Dad, what the hell. . ."

"I don't suppose you've seen this?"

Jeremy rose an eyebrow and held up the newspaper as he walked inside Justin's house making him squint his eyes and look at the bold black title.

Justin scoffed. "Who the hell reads newspapers anymore?"

Jeremy clenched his jaw and threw the paper right at Justin's face making him crease his eyebrows and attempt to block the hit as Jeremy huffed through his nostrils.

"This isn't a joking manner, do you know what they're saying about us? We're lazy white rich people that sit back and wait for business to fall in our hands or we're corrupting other businesses with hush money!"

"Dad—"

"Justin, I love you, you're my son and business partner. . .but if you don't have any way to fix this then your fired."

"Fired? Dad, you can't do that! Like you said. . .," Justin spoke out as he lowered his voice a bit and licked his lips while Jeremy rose an eyebrow. "I'm your son."

"Or. . .you come back with me tonight and we settle this issue before they make a news report on this and ask for us to talk."

"Dad, we could lose the business. . ."

"I'm aware, what do you want to do, son? Tear down your father's business for a little break or come back with me and save a company we both built?"

Justin had paused for a moment, everything seemed to be crumbling down on him at this moment, it kind of felt like he was going to have a panic attack.

He could feel his chest tighten a bit as he swallowed hard and creased his eyebrows up at his father, but just when he was about to speak, he was interrupted.

"Justin?"

Justin turned around to see Iris coming down the staircase in one of his t-shirts making his eyes grow wide and make him shake his head at Iris — only making her shake her head and smile.

She cleared her throat and walked up to Justin's side and wrapped her arm around his waist as Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Iris.

"Another one, son?"

"This is my girlfriend, Iris. . .Iris Baxter."

Jeremy paused. "Baxter? As in. . ."

"Baxter Incorporated. . .nice to meet you, sir."

Iris extended her free hand out slowly to Jeremy making him raise an eyebrow down at her hand and see her waiting making him hesitantly shake her hand.

"So. . .my rivalry business, huh? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Mr. Bieber, if you don't mind. . .I heard you and Justin's conversation and I have an idea."

"What do you know? You Baxter's are back stabbers."

Justin creased his eyebrows. "What?"

"Nothing. . .what's the idea? Will it save my business?"

"Better. . .it'll make you even more rich."

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"Shut up, he asked you to be his girlfriend?"

"Yes. . .but I didn't answer him."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because. . .," Winnie whispered as she looked behind the couch and into the kitchen seeing Peter helping his grandma clean up. "I don't know when he's doing it."

"I thought he asked on the porch."

"He told me the plan. . .geez, I messed the whole night up, didn't I?"

"By bringing me? Ouch." Jade murmured softly as Winnie let out a snicker and shook her head and leaned back onto the couch.

"You know what I meant."

"You should think it over, the nights still young, Winnie."

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

"He could ask you any minute."

Winnie felt her cheeks heat. "I—"

"Who's ready for dessert?"

Winnie and Jade turned around to see Anne standing in front of them both with a lemon cake in her hands making them smile and hop up from the couch.

Once in the kitchen, Winnie sat down next to Peter again and smiled at him as Jade sat across from them and next to Anne as she stood up and sliced the cake.

"Grandma, only one slice, okay?"

"Oh hush up and eat your cake, if I die, I'll at least die knowing I had some of my sweet lemon cake before I went to heaven."

Jade laughed. "Your grandma is lit."

Peter snickered and shook his head as he went to eat his cake as did the rest of them as they all began to talk about different topics from Winnie's book, to Jade's career choices, to Peter's childhood stories, and more of Anne's stories from when she was their age.

After about an hour at the table, Anne stood up and let out a breath and smiled as she picked up her plate. "Everyone done?"

Everyone nodded as Anne went to pick up everyone's plates, just then, Jade stood up and wiggles her eyebrows at Winnie making her crease hers and shake her head in confusion.

"I'll help you with those plates, Anne."

Winnie snickered and bit her bottom lip as she looked over to Peter seeing him rubbing his beard before looking over at her. "Can I steal you away for a moment?"

Winnie hummed in response and took Peter's hand as the two got up from their seats and headed out of the kitchen making Jade watch and smirk before going back to help Anne with the dishes.

Peter led Winnie to the back of the house and opened the door to let them head outside, once they were outside, Winnie looked around to see there was a rose bush garden on the right side and a pool to the left.

Peter walked her over to the pool and cleared his throat. "Wanna stick your feet in?"

"Sure."

Peter nodded and kicked his shoes off as Winnie did the same and followed Peter over to the edge of the pool and sat down with him as they stuck their feet into the lukewarm water.

"Winnie. . .I think you know why you're out here."

"Oh yes, I love sticking my feet in water."

Peter chuckled and looked down at Winnie's hands and took her hand into his and interlaced their fingers making Winnie smile.

"Seriously. . .you're amazing, Winnie."

"You are too, Pete."

Peter looked deep into Winnie's loving eyes and felt his heart begin to pick up speed, and just for a moment, he thought his hands were getting clammy.

"I. . .I just want you to know. . .um, I-I really like you and I know we've only been hanging out for a few weeks, but I think there's something between us, Winnie."

Winnie giggled. "I do too. . ."

"So, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

"Pete. . .I just. . .could you give me some time to think? I just—"

"No no, it's fine, take all the time you need. . .," Peter murmured softly as he smiled down at her, but then let it fade as he creased his eyebrows. "Not too long, you're only here for the summer."

Winnie giggled softly and shook her head before leaning over to Peter and kissing his cheek softly before placing her head on his shoulder and looking down at the blue water glisten in the moonlight.

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