Codeine || Interracial JB

Chapter 7 \\ Talk to Me

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"But you wanna have sex with me..."
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Justin's POV

I was stressed all week and not because of work. I had gone to see Victoria every goddamn night and she wouldn't even look my way. I tried to get her coworker Olivia to help me talk to her, but she was obviously too busy tending the bar. Shit, I even thought about paying for a private room with Victoria, but that would've been an asshole move and she probably would've kicked me in the face with the point of her heel.

I couldn't believe that a woman was affecting me like this. Ryan and Xavier would've busted my balls if they knew that she was the reason for my shitty mood and inability to focus at work.

"Justin, um are you okay?" Helena asked as she sat a stack of papers on my desk.

"Huh?" I shook my head and looked up at her. I must have been dazing again. "What did you say?"

Her lips curved down into a slight frown, "I asked if you were okay. You haven't been very present this whole week."

"I-no, I'm not okay," a sigh left my mouth as I leaned my elbows on the cherry wood, holding my head up with my knuckles.

"Well whatever it is, you need to get it together. We have a big month ahead and you need to have your head in the game," she said gently, probably worried that I was going to blow up on her for telling me to get my shit in order.

"Victoria," I blurted out and she tilted her head like a confused dog. "She's been driving me fucking crazy."

"What do you mean?" Helena crossed her arms and I noticed the shift in her posture meaning that she wasn't going to leave without an explanation.

"My party. She left without a word and I called her, went to see her at work, but she's been ignoring me like I don't exist. I swear she hates me and I don't know exactly why. It's actually pissing me off."

Helena laughed at me. She's never laughed at me like that before so it was completely unexpected. "I'm sorry," she covered her mouth to try and keep herself from laughing even more. "This is new for you."

"I'm glad that you find humor in this," I rolled my eyes at her and she quickly composed herself.

"It's just that I never knew you to let a woman cloud your abilities. I don't know what you do in your personal life, but I know that you keep it just that and it doesn't affect you at work."

"Well this woman is something else. I don't know what it is about her, but I just-I want to get to know her and I obviously can't do that when she's ignoring me."

"Do you have a guess as to why she's doing that?"

I sighed, remembering what Sofia said that night at my party. "Actually, I think it might have something to do with you." Her eyebrows furrowed and I let out another sigh. "Jealousy, I guess."

"Jealous of me?" she brought her hand up to her chest and shook her head. "Why? I don't understand."

"Well have you not looked in the mirror? You're a beautiful woman if I must say."

"Um, thank you," she shifted her weight onto her other leg. "But I'm still lost. What do I have to do with anything?"

"We did spend quite some time together, although it was to talk about business. I don't know," I ran my fingers through my hair, feeling the soft strands. I had let the top grow out while I cut the sides short. "Wait, if she's jealous then-" a lightbulb went off in my head.