Moments In Between ( Book 2)

Chapter 19: Break, Breaking, Broken

*******With one final blow, the third punching bag splits open spewing its guts on the floor. I kick the stupid bag in all my anger. Such a weakling. Can't take a few hundred punches.I miss her. I am lost. My next move is blank. I don't know what to do. Ever since I met her I have been drawn to her. Little did she know that she had me in her palms at age ten. What if I had told her then? How much I was in love with her. Would today be any different?Would she still have gone out with that asshat Davis in the following week? Would we still have fought and would she still have left? Somehow I know a lot would have changed. For instance, there would be no Eric, no Angelica just us. All the others were unimportant. I would have been with Shane.

"She's mine." Eric's smug voice replays in my head.

She is not and she never will be his. I launch my hands at whatever is in front of. I am going to kill him. I hear smashing and thudding but I don't register what or who is causing it.

How dare he! Smash! Who did he think he was claiming her like some possession and then taking her like she was not a human being but a piece of rag or forgotten shoe. Thud! Taken from her life, from me, from her babies. More smashing.He put his hands on my kids. Smash! The picture of their faces in the bloody bathroom keeps haunting me. Bang! They did not have any serious injuries but I know who will the next time I see him.

Mark. It was all my fault. They found Eric's DNA in Mark's fingernails. Eric attacked him no doubt thinking that he was me. Thud! Screech! Bang! I should have known. I should have seen it coming. I should have known that a guy like Eric would not just let things be. Why didn't I see it all before?

Pain and heavy breathing take me down to my knees. My body feels like it is on fire. Why can't all of this just be a bad dream? Why can't I protect my brother? Why can't I have Shanaé?

"Jared? Oh my gosh baby what happened?"

Shane. My heartbeat increases. "I.. I thought I lost you."

"No, baby no I'm here now okay."

"I don't want to lose you."

"I'm here Jared. I'm here for you."

"Hold me, so I know you are real, please."

She kisses the back of my neck as she wraps her arms around my body. Instead of tingles, I feel chills. Instead of setting my body on fire with her warm touch, I am set on a course of repulsion. This is wrong. This is not my Shane. I break away from whoever it is and shoot up to my feet. I look at the junkyard in front of me and sure enough, it turns into my room. Everything is either broken, dented, torn or destroyed, and on the floor.

I look down at my hands. They were aching. I did this. Shit. My mother is going to kill me.Shane is gone. My life is over. My life is gone. I can not find her. I can not save her. How am I supposed to do this without her? How do I go on living each day knowing that he has her?

"Jared?"

I spin around so fast I could have broken my neck. Anger washes over my body and my fists clench. Was she there the whole time? "Why are you here?"