XLVII
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Layla's POV ***
"Do you want ice cream?" I asked over to Jake, who was staring out the passenger's seat window blankly.
"Not really.." he answered, and I frowned. He never didn't want ice cream- my brothers had that much in common.
"Okay," I replied, and drove us to the nearest fast food place. Once I grabbed his chicken nuggets in the drive-through and handed them to him, I started back to Eli's. I sent Eli a text once I parked in the same spot on the side of his street and looked over at Jake again. He had barely touched his food.
"We don't talk a lot, do we?" I shut off the car with a sigh. "About things that actually matter, I mean. I know your favorite ice cream flavors, and favorite movies, but not what makes you sad, or how you deal with everything," I continued, not talking to him like the 7-year-old he was. He didn't meet my eyes.
"Don't shut down, Jake," I said softly, and he finally looked up at me, tears in his eyes. "Ashton does that. Whenever he feels sad or upset he shuts down and it hurts him. It hurts other people sometimes, too. Don't do that. Talk to me," I tried not to get choked up at all, making sure to seem as emotionally comfortable as possible for him.
Ashton loves him so much. And they had grown up together essentially by themselves, but Ashton was never one to look up to when it came to vulnerability. I just hoped I hadn't gotten back too late to rewire his little brain.
"I know he hurts people sometimes.. but this was the first time I saw," he said, his voice small. "He was scary," he looked back down, his lip quivering a little bit.
"He's still Ash," I told him, "he's the same Ashton he's always been, he was just mad and the guy he hurt was really bad." Jake nodded, but I could tell that he was doing it more so to just agree and accept- not to express his actual understanding of it. He had gotten so used to agreeing and accepting things over the years, even if he didn't actually agree or accept them.
"Tell me more," I chimed back in, not wanting him to hide his vulnerability again. There was a little pause.
"He hurt Eli, too. Even though it was just Eli. And it's not his fault that mom is gone, but he hurt her with words," he continued, seeming to shrink with each word. He clearly hadn't said this to anybody, ever.
"I know, sweetie. But he's sorry for both, and nobody's perfect," I told him, and he looked back up to me.
"You're perfect, though," he furrowed his brows in confusion. I laughed and sent him a loving glance.
"I am far from perfect, Jake. Far from it. And that's the thing- not a single person is ever perfect, but it's not often that you find someone who has a genuinely good heart. And that's Ashton. He covers it with mean words or harsh actions sometimes, but only because that's what he's always thought he has to do in order to protect himself, and protect the people he loves. And it's not good, but he's working in it." I paused before continuing.
"Some people have mean hearts and perfect appearances. And Ashton doesn't has a perfect appearance, but he has a good heart," I finished, and the look in Jake's eyes told me that this this time he actually took in my words and understood them a bit more.
"Thank you," Jake said.
"For what, little dude?" I asked with a smile.
"Coming back," he answered, and tears flooded to my eyes at this.
"I'll never leave again," I assured him, and he smiled.
I saw motion in my peripheral vision, and looked over to Eli coming towards the car with a smile and a duffel bag. I raised an eyebrow at his happy appearance as he hopped in the back.
"What's with the sketchy bag?" I asked him, and he kept the satisfied grin on his face.
"It's incredible what some good old blackmail can get ya. I had my dad gave me a shit ton of money and I threw the last of my stuff from my room in here as I was leaving," he replied, buckling in. I started the car, still confused and slightly concerned.
"How much?" I asked him, and he gazed into my eyes, a deeper happiness and hope present in his. It seemed like he finally felt free from a weight he'd been carrying his whole life.
"80 thousand."
• • •
Ashton's POV ***
I was sitting against the bars, trying not to grunt from the pain still blistering through my head. The jackass officer had handcuffed me to the bench because he claimed it was 'protocol', but I knew he just wanted to mess with me. Another officer came in after a bit, though, and got mad at him for it. The new one was nicer; he uncuffed me when he took over and didn't make any snide comments.
Crystal was still there, but she had almost fallen asleep a few times in her chair. It must have been really late for her to be falling asleep- considering that she was essentially nocturnal.
"C, just go home, I'll be fine," I kept telling her, but she would just shake her head and occasionally flip me off when I annoyed her by telling her to go so much.
It was a little while later when someone opened the door and Eli came walking in. I looked up at him, and he smiled a little when he saw me.
"Lookin cute, Ash," he joked, and I chuckled, rolling my eyes and wincing as my raw elbow accidentally rubbed against my jeans.
"Hey there," the new officer greeted Eli with a smile. I wish this had been the officer than Jake was here for.
Him and the officer exchanged a few pleasantries before they got to talking about the bail, and he took Eli to where he could pay it. Crystal was now fully awake and came over to where I was now standing. She wore a smile.
"Can we kiss through the bars again?? It was kind of iconic," she asked, and I chuckled.
"You're so weird," I replied, leaning down a bit as she got up on her tip toes and closed her lips on mine. I reached out and held her hands as our lips moved, not wanting to risk getting my blood anywhere else on her.
"Okay you two, you lovebirds can officially move that to another location," the officer joked as him and Eli came back in, and Crystal blushed, slightly embarrassed. I felt something in me lift as he unlocked the cell door and let me out. Crystal went to hug me, but then realized she'd probably hurt me and stopped short. I pulled her in for a hug anyway.
"Thanks," I said to Eli, planning on thanking him again later when we weren't still in the station.
"Of course, bro," he replied, shrugging it off.
"What the hell is on your fingers?" I asked, noticing the blue on his nails that my sister obviously painted.
"My new look, do you like it?," He joked, and I laughed a little.
"Okay, so I will give you back your stuff and we can discuss your custody situation a bit, and then I'll send you out," the officer told me, and Eli's expression fell. He must have just realized that this whole thing jeopardized my custody of Jake and Layla. His eyes locked with mine, wide, but I just turned back to the officer and nodded.
Crystal and Eli left to wait outside the door for me while I got my wallet and everything back.
"So they're your siblings?" He asked me when he pulled out my file. I nodded.
"And your parents..?"
"Dead. I'm their only family," I told him straightforward, and he drew in a breath.
"I'm sorry," he said, and I attempted to shrug it off.
"It's okay."
"No it's not, but it takes a strong person to act like it is. I respect that," he said and finished giving my stuff back. "Listen, I'm confident that you won't be serving any time. You'll have to do some community service and other things I'm sure- but I'm not sure exactly what. You'll be finding out within the next few days," he told me, glancing over my file.
"And what about custody?" I asked, sounding a little more nervous than I thought I would. He looked like he didn't want to meet my eyes as he looked back up at me.
"It's hard to say," he told me, and I let out a shaky breath.
"I can't lose them," I said, and he nodded. Not again..
"They might try and put them in the system, but I'll vouch for you to keep full custody."
"Why?" I asked, not understanding his hospitality.
"Because I find that often times the people that end up in here are the ones that don't really deserve it. You beat up a guy- so what? You know? I mean almost everyone has, you just did it in a public setting. I certainly don't think you should lose your siblings over that," he told me and I stared back at him with gratitude.
"I'd suggest having those tough conversations just incase it doesn't go your way, but don't give up hope or anything," he added, closing my file again and walking to put it away.
"I'm not very good at that," I commented, somewhat lightheartedly.
"I think you're stronger than you think," he looked at my file one more time before putting it in the drawer and shutting it, "Ashton Monroe."
"Thank you," was all I could really say as he led me back to the door.
"Of course, and hey- you were great company and all but please never see me again," he smiled, "I get it, some people really do deserve to have their asses handed to them... but don't give them the power to get you in here, take your money, and threaten your family. Alright?" He gave me one more look.
"Alright," I repeated, and walked out.
• • •
When the five of us got back in the house, Jake went off to his room before I could say anything to him. I couldn't take the look that had been on his face when he saw me in the cell. It broke my heart. Layla and Crystal went into the kitchen, and I turned to Eli.
"Thank you. Really. I know that was a lot of money and I appreciate it," I told him, and he smiled.
"I am your sugar daddy, remember?" He joked.
"Not anymore, exactly," I reminded him of his homeless situation.
"Well it just so happens that I'm eighty thousand dollars richer than I was earlier today- when I had zero dollars," he said, and I immediately did a double take.
"Are you drunk?" I asked, utterly confused.
"Long story, I'll fill you in later," he said and joined the three of them in the kitchen.
I started walking to the bathroom, but paused to look over at Jake's room. The door was slightly open. With a sigh, I made my way over to it.
He was sitting on the side of his bed,and a single tear had fallen down his face before he looked up at me, eyes wide. I paused.
"Hey buddy," I said, and he kept looking at me. After a few moments, I walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed next to him.
"I'm sorry," I told him, looking down. He looked up to meet my eyes and gave me a sad smile, reaching over and putting his hand on mine. Any tears that had been on their way finally arrived in my eyes as Layla walked in.
"Hey guys-" she stopped herself and her smile fell when she saw our expressions. "Oh, sorry, did I walk in on a moment?"
"No, no, um," I took my hand from Jake's to run it through my hair, trying to keep myself together, "I actually have something we should talk about, though.. um," I couldn't bring myself to say it.
"It's bad?" Layla asked, and I looked up to see her slightly worried expression.
"Yeah.. see, I might, um," my voice shook, "this might effect our custody situation... they said I might, um, they said I could lose custody of you two," I finally got out, and when I looked back up at Layla, my heart fell apart. I had never seen her eyes so wide and so painfully shocked.
"No," she shook her head, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. "No. No no I am not going back," her voice shook, a tear already falling as she continued staring at me in disbelief, "I'm not fucking going back there, I can't. I won't. No. I finally found you guys, and Jake- no way in hell can Jake go through what I went though. He can't. It took me four years to finally find a good family that didn't either treat me like shit or rejected me. Four years! I can't go back, Ash, and Jake can't go with me," she pleaded, on the verge of falling apart. Tears built up my eyes as I watched her.
She never really talked about foster care outside of the occasional, light-hearted anecdotes she told. I never realized how truly traumatizing all those years had been for her.
I felt frozen in place as Crystal and Eli came in, Eli immediately going to hold Layla as she slowly fell to the floor crying, and Crystal watching Jake as he asked what I was talking about. I realized then that he didn't even know what the word custody meant, or why Layla was breaking down, but I didn't have the strength to tell him as I just watched Layla sob into Eli, who was looking up at me confused- not knowing what happened and asking for an explanation with his eyes.
"I can't go back," she repeated herself and gripped Eli's shirt in her fists as she cried into him. Then it finally clicked with Eli what she had found out about. I looked up to Crystal as she came over to me and Jake, taking our hands in hers and bringing us out of the room
"You should tell Jake later," she suggested quietly, and I nodded, my mind still somewhat elsewhere as I heard Layla's quiet yet intense crying still coming from inside the room. "I'll stay with him, you gotta shower and clean up before anything gets infected," she said, and I nodded again.
I watched as she took Jake with her to my room, and then I walked to the bathroom. It was pretty damn painful, and took sort of a long time for me to get myself showered and bandaged up. I had to call Crystal in once to help me with my forearm.
By the time I was done, Layla had calmed down a bit and she was lying across Eli's lap the couch. I didn't say anything to them about keeping a distance, wanting Layla to feel better in any way she could. Her eyes were closed against Eli's chest, his arm around her, and he shook his head to me slightly- telling me that she wasn't doing too good. I just sadly nodded and went to my room.
Crystal and Jake were sitting on my bed, and she was tossing pieces of popcorn at him which he would try to catch in his mouth- then he would do the same for her. It was nice to hear his little laugh again as she caught one in her mouth. They looked up at me when I walked in.
"Hey," Crystal gave me a small smile, and I forced one onto my face in return. My bed was covered in random pieces of popcorn, but I couldn't care less.
A few moments later, Jake got up to use the bathroom, and Crystal turned to me.
"So," she started, and I popped another piece of popcorn in my mouth, "there's something that I feel like I really need to do- and before you freak out, this is the perfect opportunity to do so because he can't do anything and there isn't really a safer place for me to do so," she paused, and I furrowed my brows. "I'm gonna visit George in the hospital and make him fear for his life just a little bit more."
• • •
Hey guyssss
QOTD: How was/is your day today??
>>> My day was pretty good, I watched all of the Lord of the Rings movies in a row with my brother while he's home visiting for the holidays :)
Love you so so so much!
Stay beautiful,
Briella <3