Chapter 6

L IP

J ack was a fuckin' mess. I'd seen him look like shit many times, but this time it was different. Usually, his anger fueled him; he got sad or pissed. He went off somewhere and beat the fuck out of some asshole.

It wasn't the first time I'd seen Jack broken, but it was the first time I was scared he couldn't be put back together again. His head hung low, his hands formed into fists, and he looked everywhere but at Joey as her hands cradled his bandaged fists.

I frowned. "What the fuck did you do to your hand?"

"Got in a fight. Florence Nightingale here fixed me up." Jack pulled his hands from Joey’s and unclenched his fists. "See? Good as new."

I moved toward Joey, tucking her under my arm. "You okay?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Just a little sad."

I glanced at Jack. "You told her?"

"Yes, she knows everything. Now she can walk away, and the two of you can live happily ever after," Jack spat.

"You're such a fuckin' idiot. I've known you for most of my life. I've always been there. You think anyone who loves you is gonna walk away from you?"

"My own fuckin' mother abandoned me at four. Left me to that hell."

"What about what my mother did? Didn’t she prove that people love you?" I asked, frustrated at Jack's stupidity.

Joey gazed at Jack and then at me. "What did your mom do?"

"She adopted Jack on his eighteenth birthday. He'd already been living with us for two years. He emancipated himself at sixteen. My dad paid for the lawyer. Alison, his half-sister, had been beating him for eleven years. My dad couldn't take it anymore. Every other day, he was at my house with a broken rib, arm, or a black eye. She was a real piece of work. A complete fuckin' psycho. The bitch landed herself in jail five years ago when her ex-husband finally caught her beating the shit out of her kid with a sack of oranges."

"Jesus," Joey said, her eyes rounded. "What a fuckin' bitch."

"Yeah, she was one twisted sister. Had a thing about beating kids. She’d been doing it since she was in elementary school. Her old man usually bought her way out of it. He probably tried when she was beating her kid, too, but her ex was more powerful than she was, the heir of some multibillionaire. He got the kid and got her locked up."

"Why didn't you tell me Alison was in jail?" Jack asked.

"Didn't think you needed to know. You were doin' okay. Then Joey came into our lives, and you seemed happy. I didn't want to fuck any of that up by bringing up the past. I didn't know how fucked up you were until recently. I'm sorry I didn't notice. I love you, man. I would fuckin' do anything for you. I thought Joey had managed to heal you, but this shit runs deeper than I thought."

"You were probably right," Jack whispered. His expression reminded me of a trapped animal desperate to escape its cage. "I gotta get outta here." He stood and headed for the door.

I got in front of him and shoved him back. "No. No more running, man. You're not doing this shit to Joey. She fuckin' loves you. We both do. This shit with your past is not you. You were just a kid. Those fuckers should have looked after you, but all they did was hurt you. We aren't them. We’re in this for the long haul." I was so frustrated that he didn't know what he had and how easily he was allowing the past to impact all our futures. "Why the fuck can't you see that?"

"I'm fuckin shit. I come from shit, and I'll always be shit!" Jack yelled.

I got right in his face. "You're a fuckin' asshole, you know that?"

"You lookin' for a fight, Lip? I don't want to lay your ass down, but I will."

" No! " Joey yelled, coming between us. She placed a hand on our chests. "Please, stop."

Jack's gaze moved to Joey. "I gotta get out of here," he repeated.

Joey turned to face him, jabbing his chest with her finger. "No, you don't. You can't run off every time things get too uncomfortable."

Jack fisted his hair and stepped back as if Joey's hand had burned him. His actions shocked me. I'd never seen him reject Joey's touch before. Joey noticed it too. She cast her gaze down and moved away from him, letting her hands fall lifelessly to her sides. I was willing to take Jack being a dick to me, but no way would I let him hurt Joey.

"I'm gonna kill you," I hissed, gently pushing Joey aside and punching directly in the face.

"Lip, no!" Joey yelled.

I didn't hear her. I punched Jack again. "Fight, asshole!"

When he didn't hit me back after the second time, I stopped. I knew this side of Jack very well. He had two speeds: anger mixed with violence or complete self-hatred. At that moment, he hated himself and welcomed my punches to numb his pain.

I wanted Jack to talk to us, to lean on us so we could help him, but all I got was his empty stare as he walked out the door.