"Wait...."
"Relax Ray. I think it's only fair that we both enjoy our time alone...don't you?" he asked, slowly continuing to move his hand upward.
"Justin please...."
Hearing the panic in her voice, Justin stopped his ascent and raised himself up on his elbow. His plans for the evening suddenly being railroaded by the fresh set of tears he saw threatening to spill from Reini's eyes. Yeah, he had hoped that things would progress more with her tonight, but after witnessing her in her current state, he knew he needed to pull back. He loved her, and this wasn't a means of punishing her for being true to herself and her beliefs.
"Ray..."
"Justin please . Please don't make me do this. I'm just...I'm not ready." Reini sobbed, draping her arm gently across the bridge of her nose. "Can't this be enough?"
Knowing he only wanted to try and bring them closer together, and not push them further apart, Justin let out a heavy sigh and reached up to grab a hold of Reini's arm. After pulling it away from her face, he pulled on it ever so slightly and brought them both in to a seated position.
"Alright."
Unsure if she heard him correctly, Reini wiped at her eyes and slowly brought her gaze to meet his.
"Alright." he repeated, this time his voice was even softer than before. "It's enough."
Thankful that Justin was letting her off the hook once again, Reini wrapped her arms around him and heaved a sigh of relief in to the crook of his neck.
"I want you to know that I understand this is a big step for you, but you also need to understand that there will come a point in time Ray when your fears and insecurities won't be enough to stop the inevitable. You know that, right?"
Nodding her head that she understood, Reini felt the overwhelming need to feel protected and she scooted in even closer to Justin.
"Come on, let's lay down." Justin said, shifting postions so that he could lay down beside her.
After raising his arm above him, Justin made a motion with his head for Reini to join him, and without hesitation, she did just that. She wasn't quite sure how she felt at the moment, but knew that she didn't want to give him the cold shoulder anyway.
After snuggling herself in to the small space between his shoulder and chin, Reini let out a heavy sigh.
"You alright?" Justin asked, slowly tracing his fingers up and down the length of her arm.
Simply nodding her head, Reini tried her best to process everything that had happened over the last few hours. It was as if she had been on a roller coaster of emotions and nothing made sense. How could he seriously be laying there beside her, holding her so lovingly against him? An hour hadn't even past since he was literally holding her life in his hands as she dangled from the balcony of his penthouse suite.
"You're awful quiet. What's on your mind Ray?" Justin asked, shifting positions slightly so that he could take her body in to more of a complete embrace.
"Nothing." she replied, briefly looking up in to his eyes.
"Do you really expect me to buy that?"
Knowing he had a point, Reini let out another heavy sigh and locked eyes with him. She knew there was a lot on her mind that she needed to say, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't afraid that it would stir up unnecessary trouble.
"I'm really sorry about everything that happened. Everything with Channing....everything that went down earlier between us in here. I didn't mean to hurt you. I really do love you Justin." she whispered, a lump slowly rising in the back of her throat as feelings of regret took over. "I couldn't imagine not having you in my life and I would never leave you. I hope you know that."
Placing a kiss gently to the top of her head, Justin stroked her hair softly and let out a heavy sigh of his own.
"I'm glad to hear that Ray because honestly...I just.........I don't know what I would do to you if you ever tried to leave." he replied, tightly squeezing his eyes closed in an attempt to block out reality. Especially when he couldn't be sure exactly how far he would take things with her if that ever did occur. The thought alone was simply...terrifying.
Hearing every word he said and understanding every meaning of the tone he said it in, Reini felt the tears threaten to spill from her eyes.
"I'm sorry for earlier too." Justin said, his voice cracking slightly as he mentally flashed back to the sight of Reini hanging precariously from the ledge of his terrace. "I never meant to put you in that kind of danger. It really was an accident."
"I know." she replied softly, exhaustion slowly taking over her body.
Letting out a slight snicker, Justin exhaled deeply and gently slid his arm from underneath her head. After standing up, Justin tossed the throw pillows on to the chair beside the bed and pulled the covers down.
"Come on." he said, patting the small exposed space. "I think we've had enough drama for tonight."
Nodding her head in agreement, Reini crawled over the tossed back comforter and crawled in to the warmth of Justin's bed. After moving to the other side, Justin slid in beside her and pulled the covers back up.
"Now where were we?" he asked, raising his arm once again to invite Reini to join his side.
"Right about here." she replied, her body slowly shutting down as she scooted in closer.
After wrapping his arm around her once again, Justin grabbed the remote from his nightstand and turned off all the lights in the room.
"I love you Reini."
"I love you too Justin." she replied before slowly letting her eyes shut one final time.
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With the first light of morning beginning to pour in to his suite, Justin let out a hearty yawn and stared at the ceiling above him . After blinking a few times to clear his vision, he glanced to the side and saw one of the most beautiful sights he had ever laid his eyes on.
Brushing away the few stray hairs that draped down over her delicate features, Justin ever so softly placed a kiss to her temple and sat upright. He really didn't expect to sleep as well as he had after the night they had, but surprisingly the comfort of having her in his arms worked wonders for him and his guilty conscience.
After stretching his arms above his head, Justin stood up and headed over to the window that overlooked the city. It was still early and he was just getting his bearings for the day, but looking down at the city streets, clearly the rest of the world had already sprung in to action.
Glancing back at the clock once again, Justin figured he had at least a good two hours before Reini would be getting up and knew he wanted to try and do something for her to make up for last night. After grabbing a fresh pair of boxers from his dresser, Justin walked in to the bathroom and shut the door.
Unfortunately he hadn't been in there for more than five minutes when he heard a knock on the door.
"Justin can I come in?"
"Yeah." he replied, yelling over the sound of the running water from his shower.
Turning the knob on the door, Reini slowly pushed it open. Once the rush of steam escaped back in to his bedroom, the silhouette of Justin's naked frame came in to focus and she blushed.
"I'm sorry for interrupting you, but I need to be down at the studio at 8am for a shoot."
"A shoot?"
"Yeah, I thought I told you about it. It's for a new Calvin Klein perfume ad."
"Ummm...Ok. I don't recall you telling me about it though." he replied, continuing to wash the traces of shampoo from his hair.
"I'm sorry. I could have sworn I told you."
"It's fine Ray. I mean, I planned on spending the day with you but we can always do something when the shoot is over. Maybe grab something to eat?"
"Yeah, I'd love that." she replied, a gentle smile creeping across her lips as she looked up at him.
"You know...there's room for one more in here?"
Letting out a slight chuckle, Reini felt her cheeks begin to blush and looked away.
"It's just a shower Ray." he snickered, opening the door up a little more.
Tossing her head from side to side in thought, Reini slowly slipped off the t-shirt that she had haphazardly thrown on when she got out of bed and tossed it on the small shelf. Once she was all the way inside the shower, Justin closed the door and pulled her in to a loving
embrace.
"Did you sleep well?"
"A little too well." she giggled, tilting her head to the right to allow Justin more access to the soft skin of her neck.
"Oh really?"
Not wanting to elaborate any more on the subject, Reini just nodded her head and stepped back under the warm spray of the water. Giving her a devilish grin, Justin decided to drop the subject...for now.
After about twenty minutes of rotating shifts under the water, both had finished showering.
"So how long is it going to take you to get ready?" Justin asked, reaching down to turn the water off.
"Honestly, not long at all. All I really have to do is dry my hair and get dressed. The make-up artists and wardrobe people will take care of the rest when I get there."
Nodding his head that it made sense, Justin grabbed a large plush towel from the oak cabinet and wrapped it around Reini's body.
"Well, I'll leave you to do whatever it is you need to do. I'm just going to get dressed and see if the paper is here." he said, grabbing another towel from the cabinet and wrapping it around his waist.
"Ok. Well I'll come find you when I'm done."
"Alright."
Once Justin had walked back in to his bedroom, Reini shut the door and removed the towel from her still damp body. She hadn't really studied the extent of her injuries before, but with the photo shoot only hours away, she had to see what she was going to be up against. What Jamie would be up against.
Turning to her side, Reini began to trace her finger along the six inch bruise just below her ribs. The color had faded from a deep shade of purple to a yellowish green, but it was just as tender as it was the night he kicked her. Deciding that Jamie would more than likely be able to cover that one up, she turned once again and looked for any more imperfections on her once flawless body.
Lifting her arm above her head, Reini continued to check along the other side of her ribs and around towards her back. Convinced she only had that one flaw, Reini was about to lower her arm back down when something else caught her eye. Turning the inner part of her forearm to the mirror, Reini saw three small reddish purple imprints just below her wrist.
"Shit!"
Quickly lowering her arm back down, Reini twisted her arm slightly so that she could get a closer look. Biting down on her bottom lip, Reini studied what she considered a reminder of exactly what Justin was capable of. After letting out a heavy breath, she knew that it was in her best interest to get there early and pull Jamie to the side to enlist his help in covering everything up before anyone saw it. The last thing she needed was people questioning her.
Once she wrapped the towel back around her body, Reini headed back in to Justin's room to get her bag. After placing it up on top of his bed, she unzipped the center compartment and pulled out a small case that held her toothpaste and basic essentials. Once she made sure she have everything she needed, she grabbed a fitted t-shirt and a pair of jeans from her bag and headed back in to the bathroom to get ready.
After about another fifteen minutes, Reini walked back out of the bathroom and in to Justin's room. Once she made sure she had everything she could possibly need to take with her, she grabbed her purse and headed to find Justin.
