Hope (JB+AG)

-23-

Justin

Saturday, April 14

3:29 am

"Are you ever gonna go to sleep?" I ask.

"When I feel like it." Ariana says.

"But the twins come home today. Shouldn't you be trying to get as much sleep as you can?"

"I'll be alright. I'm used to it. Now shut up before you wake Bella up."

"She's not gonna wake up."

"Well, if she does, you'll be putting her back to sleep." Ariana gets out of the bed and starts walking to the bathroom.

Before she makes it to the door, there's a crash downstairs and the sound of glass breaking.

"What the fuck?" I say, immediately getting out of the bed.

Ariana just stands where she is, a look of shock on her face.

"Justin.." She whispers.

"Stay here." I tell her.

I go the dresser and open my sock drawer, digging around until I find my gun.

"Justin, you have a gun?" Ariana gasps.

I ignore her, leaving the bedroom. As I'm walking down the stairs, I remember Aviella's still in her room, so I go grab her and bring her to my room with Ariana.

"Lock the door and call the police." I tell Ariana.

I make my way downstairs and into the living room. There's obviously nothing wrong in here so I go to the kitchen.

The back door is completely shattered, and glass is all over the floor. There's someone in my damn house.

I walk around the entire downstairs, not finding anybody or anything out of order except the door. I'm about to go back upstairs when I hear the sound of glass crunching.

I rush to the kitchen and see a man dressed in all black leaving through the broken door. I run after him, but he jumps in a car that I didn't even notice and drives off.

"Fuck!"

I walk back inside the house, hearing police sirens as I go upstairs.

"Baby, it's me. Open the door." I say.

Ariana opens the door, holding Bella in her arms.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

"No, I'm not. A man broke the back door and came in here, and I looked for him, but I couldn't find him anywhere. He ran outside and there was a car waiting for him and he got away."

"Someone was in the house?"

"Yes." I nod.

Ariana is silent, like she gets when she's about to cry.

"Baby girl, the police are here now. I'm gonna go talk to them. I want you to take the girls and go to your moms house for the night, okay?"

"Justin, I don't wanna leave you here by yourself."

"I'll be okay. I don't want you guys in any danger. Please just go, baby." I kiss Ariana's head before going downstairs to answer the door.

"Good evening, Sir. I'm Officer Westbrook. What's the problem?"

I tell him what happened while leading him to the back door.

"Is there anyone else in the house?" He asks, looking over the glass.

"My wife and 2 daughters. They're about to leave."

"Okay. I'm gonna call some backup and we'll look things over. And you have a license for that, correct?" He asks, looking at the gun sticking out of my shorts.

"Yes, Sir."

"Great. Before your family leaves, I'd actually like to get a statement from them."

"That's fine, but you're only gonna get anything valuable from my wife."

"Why is that?"

"My daughters are 1 and 7, and they were both asleep when this happened."

"Oh, I understand."

We wait for Ariana to come downstairs with Aviella and Bella, and I take them while she talks to Officer Westbrook.

"Daddy will be there tomorrow, okay babies? I love you both, and please, stay with mommy."

"I love you too, daddy. Are we gonna move?" Aviella says.

"No, babe. We're just gonna have to upgrade the security. Nothing like this will ever happen again. I'm so sorry this happened. Daddy just wants to keep you safe, you know that."

"Daddy, its not your fault. There are bad people in the world." Aviella replies.

I swear this little 7 year old is smarter than me sometimes.

"You're right, baby." I pull her closer to me, squeezing her and Bella both.

"Justin, TMZ is outside. Why, how? What the fuck?"

"I'll take care of it. Just be safe, please. I love you."

"I love you too." I kiss Ariana's forehead, lingering there for a bit before pulling away.

"I love you too." She whispers, taking Bella from me.

I follow her outside to keep the paparazzi from getting any pictures, but I don't have to work too hard because the backup Officer Westbrook calles arrives and makes everyone leave.

I watch Ariana as she drives off, waiting until I can't see her before following the Officers inside.

After telling them what happened, I call Jonathan and Ryan to get them to come over so I won't be alone, because even though I was acting brave for the girls and Ariana, I'm still a little scared.

5:01 am

"That is so fucked up, man." Ryan says.

"Yeah, I'm just happy the girls are okay. I swear, if anything would've happened to them..." I sigh, running my hands through my hair.

"And thank you guys for coming over. I know it's late."

"Don't even worry about it, man. We're bros." Jonathan says.

I nod, turning the TV on. I'm gonna try to sleep, in the living room, with my gun right next to me in case he or someone else comes back.