A/N: Apologies for the long wait, school ate me. ;)
I heard Zane laugh from behind me, “Why are you wearing that tight skirt if you hate it so much kid?” he laughed out again as I re-adjusted it for the hundredth time since we’d gotten out of the car.
“Kyle told me boys liked girls in short, tight clothing-“ I grumbled, diving into my handbag for the house keys. “I’m never listening to him again.” I half yelled, finally getting agitated at how the material constricted any leg movement.
Zane rolled his eyes, “Kyle likes girls in short, tight clothing not all boys.” he laughed, taking the keys from my hand to unlock the front door. He pushed it open, stepping aside so I could walk in first, then Liam, he followed last, shutting the front door behind him.
The house was silent, too silent and Dad’s briefcase was sitting by the door. His coat hung up, and his shoes placed neatly by the front door. I held my breath. He was never home, unless something really bad had happened.
“Zane? Liam?” Cole called, his voice bouncing off the walls in the vacant house. “You guys home?” he called again, and then suddenly there were heavy footsteps, getting closer and closer until he emerged, plastering a fake smile across his face as he saw us.
“Hey.” I smiled, tugging at the skirt to make it longer. You share a house with six boys and you chose an outfit that barely covers your arse, nice one Jaycee.
“Hey,” Cole smiled, making his way towards me before pulling me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing him tighter just to let him know that whatever was wrong; it’d be all right. “Where are the other two brats?” he chuckled slightly pulling away.
Zane stiffened from beside me, “I have homework, I need to do it.” Liam stuttered, trying to make a swift escape.
Cole stepped in front of him, blocking the stairs. “Nice try kiddo, where are Tyler and Kyle?” he asked again, a much sterner edge to his tone.
“Jaycee?!” Another voice started, and I felt my insides melt. I let my bag fall to the floor, running into the living room and straight into my Dad’s open arms.
“Dad.” I whispered, nestling myself into his chest.
“Hey sweetheart,” he smiled holding me out at shoulders length. “Is everything alright?” he asked, his eyes lit with concern as he tilted my head upwards so I was forced to look into his eyes.
“Yeah,” I nodded, gulping. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” I managed to lie through clenched teeth. “Are you staying?” I asked hopefully.
He shook his head, and I chuckled slightly, I should have known, he never stayed, I was always on my own. “I have a business trip for a fortnight, but I’ll be home after that, I promise Jaycee.” he smiled, and tears were burning at the back of my throat because Mum used to always say that.
I’m just going out for a couple of hours Jace, I’ll come home and then we can watch a movie together, all right sweetie?
She’d promise me but she never made time for me, her friends, her social life, everything was her priority, everything always put before me.
“Are you crying?” he asked, his eyes filled with concern as he turned his head to look back at Dylan who was staring at me, a blank expression on his face, his eyes so clouded I couldn’t comprehend what he was thinking.
I wiped my eyes quickly, blinking away the moisture filling my eyes. “I just need a second,” I whispered and before either had the chance to stop me I ran up the stairs and into my bedroom, sliding down against the door onto the floor in a lump.
Zane’s P.O.V
“I’m going to see Lydia, what do you want?” I asked in frustration, as Cole shut the front door, pushing Liam up the stairs, he waited until Liam was out of sight before opening his mouth.
“Mum’s in town,” he held his breath and I swallowed quietly. “She wants Liam back.” he whispered and my legs were turning to jelly. I grabbed the banister to stop myself from falling.
I shook my head, his words sinking in, really sinking in. “No, we have to get out of here.” I stated not asking.
“Don’t panic,” his hand was on my shoulder. “That’s why Jaycee’s dad’s home,” he explained. “He’s trying to help us, but don’t say anything to the twins or Liam.” he begged, his eyes beseeching.
I followed him into the living room, where Dylan was currently sitting, his head in his hands and Jaycee’s dad who was pacing the length of the room.
Dylan looked up, “Where are Tyler and Kyle?” he asked as Jaycee’s Dad turned around hearing our voices, he smiled at me before continuing pacing.
I winced, “They got in a fight.”
Cole sighed, “For Kyle that’s typical, but why Tyler?” he asked.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Dylan snapped, shooting Mr. Collins an apologetic look for cursing. “It hasn’t even been half a year.” he shook his head, groaning internally.
“We can deal with the boys when they get home, but we need to do something about your Mother.” Jaycee’s dad started.
“What does she want with Liam? Why Liam?” I asked, sitting down as Cole shut the door tightly before coming to sit down.
“He’s the only one of you that’s under sixteen, your mother still has every right on him, where as the rest of you are over, so she has no legal rights towards the rest of you.” Dylan explained.
“She’ll kill him,” I whispered fear setting into my heart as the memory was back, the image of Liam’s innocent, beaten body, lying in the bathroom after Mum had come back drunk, the fear that he was dead, the fear that we were so close to loosing him.
“We won’t let her take him.” Cole reassured me, squeezing my shoulder gently.
“I’ll help you keep him safe,” Jaycee’s dad whispered, his eyes lit with the same spark of concern that dad used to have. “In one condition, you keep my daughter out of all of this.”
Dylan nodded, “Don’t let this conversation leave the room, don’t tell the twins or Jace and especially not Liam.” he instructed, his voice laced with sincerity. “I’ll go and talk to Mum some time this week, just figure out what’s going through her fucking mind.” he half growled, forcing out the words through barred teeth and the hatred for Mum was apparent in his eyes.
“You’re not going anywhere near her,” Mr. Collins announced. “The six of you need to keep your distance from her, stay at home – we’ll figure out something but you are not going near that woman when we all know what she’s more than capable of doing.”
“We have to,” Cole intervened. “She’s our Mum at the end of the day,” his voice was shaky as he took in a breath, “She’s the only parent we have left.”
I gulped, Mr. Collins’ eyes softening as he smiled, the corners of his lips twitching up. “I know you love her and I know she loves the six of you, but you’re her children not her punch bags Cole, and this has been going on for far to long. She needs to realize that she needs help with her drinking problem because it’s not right or fair to the six of you. She says she drinks because she’s stressed, but I get stressed out too but I don’t come home and beat up Jaycee do I?” he asked, walking over and squeezing Cole’s shoulder.
I was trying to calm the restraining storm inside of me, “How the fuck can you just say that Cole?” I asked, chuckling bitterly. “How can you be so affectionate after every fucking thing she put us through?” I asked, the string keeping my shit together finally breaking. “She beat Liam every night for fuck knows how long, probably since he could walk, she killed Dad how can you want to go and see that women’s fucking face, huh?” I growled, because I’d been quiet for far too long, because he was fucking blind and he needed to have his eyes opened.
“She’s our Mum,” he whispered, his eyes so innocent. “How can you not want to go and see her?” he asked, his chest heaving. “Everyone makes mistakes, she’s made her’s, she’s changed now.”
“Who are you trying to kid?” I asked, my voice coming out harsher than intended. “Killing Dad wasn’t a mistake, beating Liam every night wasn’t a mistake, spending all our savings on alcohol wasn’t a mistake. There’s a limit to how stupid you can be and she crossed that line.” I growled, not even being able to look him in the face. "Was asking for a woman that cared about you, too much? I just wanted a Mum that cared for me and it;s the other way round, wwe've been looking after her, we helped her hide her drinking problem from dad-" I shook my head placing a fist to my mouth because i just didn't know what to say anymore.
“Calm down man,” Dylan’s hand was on my shoulder. “Arguing doesn’t do anything, the three of us need to stick together right now not argue.” he exhaled, “Alright?” he said, not asking as he eyes us both until we nodded.
“Liam-“ Mr. Collins started but the door opened and Jaycee walked in, her cheeks red and her nose runny, her ridiculous outfit was taken off and she looked like the girl we’d met on the first day, her brown hair hanging loosely past her shoulders and she was in tracksuits and a jumper and she was just so beautiful but she didn’t even know it.
“I was – Uh – just going to get a drink – Uh – does anybody want anything?” she asked, wincing slightly. “Did I interrupt something, because I mean I’ll leave-“ she was gushing slightly; something we picked up she did when she was nervous.
“You’re not interrupting anything.” Cole chuckled uneasily form beside me, “We were just talking about the two idiots that got into a fight.” he rolled his eyes as Jaycee’s smile vanished, I held my breath, was she going to tell them they got into a fight because they were protecting her?
“Don’t give them a hard time over it-“ she managed to fumble out as she started playing with her fingers, her eyes locked with the ground, averting everyone’s gaze. “Just don’t yell at them please.” she whispered, “For me.” she finished her voice softening along side her posture.
Cole raised an eyebrow, exhaling as his shoulders deflated before giving her a nod. Dylan however was rubbing his temple, shaking his head; he wouldn’t let it go that easily.
“Can you get me a coffee?” I asked, quickly trying to change the topic of the conversation.
“Get me a coffee too, kiddo.” Mr. Collins smiled at Jaycee and there was a pang in my chest, this pain that reminded me there was a time when Dad used to look at us like that, when his eyes were filled with warmth and love when he and Mum weren’t having problems, when everything was so perfect it felt like a dream that I never wanted to wake up from but that life was gone, Dad was gone, gone forever and how could he just leave?
“Ask Liam, he’ll probably have one.” Dylan mumbled, his anger contained a little, his voice gentle again.
“He’s not home,” Jaycee started but Cole had shot up to his feet, waving his hands dismissively as Jaycee stopped talking, and the words hadn’t sunk in yet, they were still ringing through my ears.
“What the fuck do you mean he’s not fucking home?” Dylan was yelling, his cheeks flustered and his fingers on Jaycee’s shoulders, shaking her.
“Let her go Dylan,” Cole’s voice was sharp and blunt and Dylan’s arms dropped to his side. “Jace,” he was cupping her face. “I need you to tell me where Liam is, please.” Cole whispered, the urgency laced in his tone.
“He got a phone call and he left ten minutes ago,” she replied, her voice mixed with desperation. “What’s wrong?”
Cole shut his eyes briefly, rubbing his hand over his face. “We need to go,” and my voice was coarse, “we have to find him before she does.” and I hadn’t even realised how much I was trembling until Mr. Collins squeezed my shoulder, his eyes locked with mine, telling me everything would be alright. But would it really?
“Did he say where he was going sweetheart?” Mr. Collins asked her, the panic apparent in his voice.
Jaycee shook her head, “He was panicking and worrying though, I asked him if he wanted me to go along with him but he refused.” her voice trailed off, “Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” she was shaking now, biting down on her lip, looking at all of us, waiting for us to tell her what was wrong.
“Get in the car boys, we have to find him before your mother does.” Mr. Collins ordered.
“He’s alright, he’s fine, nothing’s wrong, he’s okay.” I was muttering to myself to stop me from loosing my sanity.
“Wait-“ Jaycee called out, as we were running out the front door. “He said the old warehouse-“ she shut her eyes briefly, her forehead crinkling, “The old warehouse behind the pub – that’s where he went.”
Everything inside of my body had stopped, frozen and fallen out of place and I was stumbling backwards, gripping the coffee table to stop me from loosing my balance.
Come to the old warehouse behind the pub Zane, be there at five.
I clamped my hands over my ears, no, no, no, no.
We’ll kill him there and then, we’ll teach the little nerd a lesson he won’t fucking forget.
My heart was pounding against my chest, my head thumping in my skull, I felt like I was being suffocated, trapped in a room full of fire and I was banging on the fucking walls but nobody could hear me, nobody would help me, nobody could hear me, nobody would save me, and the smoke was filling my lungs until it felt like I was dying.
BANG!
My eyes shot open, the memories playing through my head like an open wound, throbbing, throbbing, throbbing. I could have saved him. I should have gone to the police but god why didn’t I?
My palms were sweating and everybody was staring at me. “I can’t come there-“ I was shaking my head, “I’m sorry.”
Question for this chapter:
What do you think the memories in Zane’s head were about?
Who died?
Why didn’t he tell the police?
Where do you think Liam is?
Dedication to the closest answer :) xxx