A/N: oh . . . uh, hai thar.

so, i'm back after a . . . two month hiatus? yeah.

miss me?

. . . didn't think so.

WARNING: mild language & ALEJANDRO'S ASS GETS KICKED. ;D

Beth's nerves were racking as she lathered her hair. Exactly what the hell was she doing? Justin was the one who had lied to her in the first place, and she ran to him after almost getting raped? Could she truly trust him? After all, he was the whole reason she was in that situation.

She pressed her palms against the shower stall, letting the water run through her hair and drip down her body. It wasn't as if she had a choice, and after all, why would he warn her of his intentions if Alejandro and he were truly on the same side?

The farmer girl stepped out of the shower, clutching the first towel she saw against her nude body. She quickly dried and wrapped it around herself, opening the door, and stepping shyly into the hallway. She felt her foot land on something soft, and she directed her gaze downward to see that Justin had laid out a faded blue button up and a pair of women's panties next to the door. She smiled softly, reaching down and dressing herself in the extra garments. Wrapping her hair up into the towel, she hesitantly made her way downstairs to see that Justin was mumbling angrily to himself. She stepped closer to hear just what he had to say.

"I should've prevented this . . . I knew that little prick would do this to her, why couldn't I have guessed that he would've forced himself onto her? Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he slammed his fists down on the granite kitchen counter to release his boiling anger.

Beth quietly came closer to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind, and whispering, "By letting me stay here, you've done enough."

Justin looked behind himself, a small flush on his tanned cheeks as he realized he was being spied on, but turned in her embrace and hugged her head on, "I'm sorry I made this bet in the first place . . . Beth . . . I wanted to apologize to you right after I said all of that messed up shit. I would've, but I found out that Alejandro had already gotten into your head. I wish I was never that asshole's friend in the first place. I'm gonna kill him. I really think that I might kill him."

Beth bit down on her lip, shaking her head, and saying, "No, don't kill him. Kick his . . . sorry but, on Monday, lunch. In front of the entire student body."

With an angry mumble, the Hawaiian replied, "I still wanna kill him."

That night, Beth had been having recurring nightmares, so Justin slept downstairs on the floor while she took the couch. After many hours of reassurance and restless sleep, Beth had finally dozed off. The same could hardly be said for Justin, who spent most of his night staying awake and alert.

Though, his stakeout was interrupted at fifve-thirty in the morning when he heard a car pull up into the drive. Eyes wide, he snuck over to the window, peered behind the curtain, and saw that a tall, curvy silhouette was getting out of a sleek white car. Realizing in an instant that his mother was home, only one word could fall of off Justin's full lips, "Shit!"

He ran his fingers through his messy dark hair, contemplating just how bad this situation looked; a girl was passed out on the couch in one of his button up t-shirts, his hair was messier then usual from his worried pulling and tugging, his mother had happened to be away for what was supposed to be a week . . .

"Shit," he repeated as his mother came closer to the door. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her about what had happened; would Beth want him to? Not only that, but he wanted to wait until after he had kicked his ass until he told police about what had almost occurred. These racing thoughts in his mind soon went blank as his mother opened the door and greeted him.

"Justin, dollface, I just had to come back to tell you - who the hell is on my couch?"

Justin ran over to her, hurriedly pressing a finger to his lips and shushing her, "Shh, mom! Look, let me explain!"

"You don't go for any girls at the modeling agency, but you go sleep with that beast? She looks like the hulk!" his mother snapped in a harsh whisper.

Something snapped inside of Justin, "Don't you dare call her a beast, mom! Maybe she's not the prettiest girl in the world, but to me, she's beautiful, so shut the hell up!"

The agent's jaw snapped shut, but she still glowered at him, rubbing her temples and shaking her head, "I can't believe you slept with someone while I was on a buisness trip!"

"I didn't sleep with her!" Justin exclaimed, flailing his arms in exasperation, "Look, she just needs a place to stay for the night. I'll take her home tomorrow morning. Okay?"

" . . . fine. But no later then brunch, capeche?"

As his mother nodded her head and walked up the staircase, Justin sighed in relief, and through himself back down on his make-shift floor bed.

Unknown to him, Beth was smiling all the while.

Come Monday morning, Justin was fully prepared to serve up a can of whoopass on the Latino bastard.

He knew he had promised Beth he would beat him in front of their peers at lunch, but he could no longer stand the way that he roamed freely, laughing, smiling, flirting with Heather, as if he had not tried to rape an innocent Beth just a few mere days before.

He cracked his knuckles, scanning and spotting the Latino in the crowd.

Maybe he was tired of the cat and mouse game against Alejandro, but he would not forfeit, he would not give him the satisfaction of winning.

Oh no.

He would end that game.

A/N: oh, hate me for cutting it off there? oh, don't worry! next update will be soon!