Highly Addictive || Benny Rodriguez

✧eight.༄

Ham glanced at his sister after he collected all of the broken ceramic in the sink, seeing her silently cry, "Scar?" She gazed over at her little brother with watery eyes, not finding control over her tears, "What's wrong?" His face softened as her body shook and she became breathless.

Ham didn't know what Jacob had done, no one had the heart or courage to tell the youngest child what happened to his sister but she knew he'd figure it out eventually. Scarlett ripped off the rubber gloves over her hands and eased herself onto the floor, finding the room around her spinning.

Ham lowered himself in front of his sister, grabbing ahold of her hands with his and squeezing tightly, "Breath." Her watery green eyes stayed connected with the blue ones staring at her, the eyes of their father, finding ease from her comforting brother. After she caught her breathe, she hesitated, wondering if she really wanted to tell him what happened that night.

"He-" She paused. Their eye contact breaking as looked down before she said, "He hurt me Hammy, really bad."

Ham's hands dropped to his side, turning into fists as an overwhelming feeling of rage rolled over him, "What?"

Scarlett glanced up back at him, the salty droplets spilling down her face, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for choosing him over you! You're my baby brother, I'll always pick you," She threw her arms around him, to her surprise he accepted the hug. Ham was never into physically touch with anyone but this was an exception that he wasn't going to pester her about now, maybe later.

The girl sobbed into his chest, the boy glaring off into the distance, growing even more hatred towards Phillips. It was one thing to harass him and his friends, but Jacob Phillips clearly had taken the spite towards them out on Scarlett, he overstepped a boundary. The ginger boy couldn't help but feel guilty for letting his sister go so easily with the Phillips kid, knowing he was not a good person, they all knew he wasn't a good person.

Ham pulled back but kept his arms around his sister, scanning her tear stained face. He couldn't help but wonder how his friends were going to react hearing about this, "Do you wanna come with me to the Sandlot?"

Scarlett scoffed, rubbing away the snot from under her nose, "I thought they all hated me."

"No. They never did." Her brother reassured, swiping a gentle finger under her eyes, wiping away the tears.

Scarlett liked seeing his soft side with her, she always knew that Ham was protective and deep down he loved her, but he rarely ever said it. When they were younger, he never left her side and would cry every time she had to leave and he wasn't invited to go wherever she went.

As he grew older, he had gotten distant over time, especially after their dad died and she went to boarding school, she never got to see him or Tyler as they grew. She worried about her little brother but just like herself and the other Porter family members, he was hot headed and kept mostly to himself, unless it was something very important.

Ham stood up first, holding his hand out to assist the girl still on the floor, "C'mon, I don't think they'll mind much if you watch."

𐬿 𐮚 ミ★☆彡 𐮚 𐬿

"Finally decided to show up, Hamilton?!" Squints shouted from across the field. The boys sat in the dugout, kicking around pebbles with their dirt covered shoes as they impatiently waited for said boy to start their game.