Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 40

The Founder's Park was a large circle, with walkways like spokes in a wheel, all leading to the centre. And at the centre were two cages. Cells just big enough for a man to stand up, not even wide enough to stretch out. Justin would have to sleep sitting up, if he slept, or curled in a foetal position.

He was sitting, knees up, head resting on his arms, when me and Eve arrived. The biker was yelling and rattling his bars. Not Justin. He was...quiet.

"Justin!" I almost flew across the open space, grabbed the cold iron bars in both hands, and pressed my face between them. "Justin!"

He looked up. His eyes were red, but he wasn't crying. At least, not now. He managed to move around in the small, cramped cage until he was sitting closer to me, and reached through the bars to lay his hand against my cheek, stroking it with his thumb. It was the cheek that Oliver had slapped, I realised. I still wondered if it was red.

"I'm sorry" Justin said. "My dad...I had to go. I couldn't let him do this. I had to try to stop it, Ana, I had to-"

I was crying again, silently. With his thumb, he slowly wiped away the tear that fell. I could feel his hand shaking. "You didn't do anything, did you? To Brandon?" I asked.

"I didn't like the son of a bitch, but I didn't hurt him, and I didn't kill him. That was already done when I got there" Justin laughed, but it sounded forced. "Just my luck, huh? Charging off to be the hero, I get to be the villain instead"

"Your dad-"

He nodded. "Dad's get us out. Don't worry, Ana. It'll be okay"

But the way he said it, I knew he didn't believe it either. I bit my lip to hold back a fresh wave of sobbing, and turned my head to kiss his palm.

"Hey" he said softly. He moved closer to the bars, pressing his face between them. "I always said you were jailbait, but this is ridiculous"

I tried to laugh. I really did.

His smile looked broken. "I'm going to consider this protective custody. At least this way, I can't do anything that'd get me in real trouble, right?"

I leant forward to kiss him. His lips felt just the same, soft and warm and damp, and I didn't want to move away. Not ever. Our lips moved together, his hand reaching through the bars to my cheek. He let out a soft cry, as our lips moulded together in satisfaction.

He sat back first, leaving me stranded there tingling and once again on the verge of tears. Justin could not be blamed for this. It wasn't fair.

"I'll talk to Micheal" I said.

"Yeah" Justin nodded. "Tell him...well, hell. Tell him I'm sorry, okay? And he can have the PlayStation"

"Stop it! Stop it... you're not going to die, Justin!" I shout.

He looked at me, and I saw the bright spark of fear in his eyes. "Yeah" he said softly. "Right"

I clenched my fists until they ached, and looked at Eve, who'd been standing quietly in the background. As Eve came towards the cage, I turned away and went to Detective Hess. "How?" I asked again. "How are they going to kill him?"

He looked deeply uncomfortable, but he looked down and said, "Fire. It's always fire"

That nearly made me cry again. Nearly. Justin already knew, and so did Eve. They'd known all along. "You have to help him" i said. "You have to! He didn't do anything!"

"I can't" he said. "I'm sorry"

"But-"

"Anastasia" he put both hands on my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. I realised he was trembling, and then the tears came, a huge flood of them, and I held to the lapels of his coat and cried like my heart was breaking. Hess stroked my hair. "You bring me proof he had nothing to do with Brandon's death, and I swear to you, I'll do everything I can. But until then, my hands are tied"