He sighed and raked his hands through his gelled hair, casing the perfectly quaffed hairdo to tangle. “What happened, Jesse? Is it the wedding? Do you miss your mom?”

“When have I ever missed Mom?” My laugh was strained, made raspy from the acid.

“Is this about that girl? Rocky.”

I blinked. Was it?

I shook my head, though I didn’t know. “This is about me! I’ll always be a screw up even if I try my hardest not to be. Why not just embrace who the whole world thinks I am?”

Dad remained quiet for a few moments. “Because deep down I know you’re better…and I think that you know you’re better too.”

Chapter 12

I couldn’t prove that Jason had purposely laced my blunt, but I didn’t need tangible evidence to know he was a dick. Luckily, I knew his type, and I was more than prepared to deal with him. However, that didn’t make living with him any easier. Good thing it was only temporary. Once break was over he’d be leaving to go back to school up north and I was counting down the days until he did.

“Hear from Sloan?” Jason entered the kitchen, yawning and scratching at his balls. His bare feet dragged across the linoleum, making high-pitched screeching noises similar to nails on a chalkboard. Good God, how I wanted to sock him in the face.

I dumped about two tablespoons of sugar into my coffee and ignored him.

“Hey, I’m talking to you,” he snapped.

Stirring my brew, I hardly glanced over, which further fueled his irritation. “Didn’t realize you were so obsessed with my dick. Thanks for caring, I guess.”

Well, that shooed away any remnants of his sleep. In a blink of an eye he barreled toward me, shaking his fist. “You’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet. You have no idea how much I just want to pound your face.”

I chose not to pay attention to him and merely kept sipping my hot ass coffee. Not wanting to show my weakness, I swallowed back the bitter liquid though it felt as if I was chugging lava.

Surprisingly, he lowered his fist, though judging by his flushed face I was not in the clear as of yet. In a cold tone he ground out, “Did she call you?”

I placed my mug down and shook my head with a laugh. “Seriously, what is your obsession with her? Do you like her or something?”

All at once the cocky smile left his face. “Or something.”

Something in his face made my gut twist uncomfortably. “Jason…is there something you need to tell me?”

At this point his jaw was clenched so tightly that a vein in his forehead had popped out. His hand trembled, fists clenching and unclenching. “What? Are we really doing a brother to brother chat now?”

I threw my hands in the air and groaned in exasperation. “What is your deal? If you have something to say, just do it instead of this cryptic bullshit.”

He paused. Like the calm before the storm the kitchen took on an eerie silence. “Sloan is…was my girlfriend.”

Ah, there it was.

My mouth dropped open in disbelief. “Was she…how? But…”

Jason’s teeth ground against each other in a way that was almost painful to watch. “We got into a fight after the ceremony. She thought I messed around with one of her friends and broke it off with me.”

“Did you?” My eyes were wide with shock.

“No! Of course not!” In one quick motion he raised his fist and punched a hole through the kitchen cabinet. Jarred pieces of stained wood crackled and fell to the ground, reminding me of ashes from a cigarette. I jumped back, both startled and impressed by his strength. “Did you really think she wanted you? Did you really think she would have gone for a guy like you?”

“A guy like me?” I repeated with a snort. It was my life’s theme, wasn’t it? A guy like me.

“She only did it to get back at me,” he replied matter-of-factly. “What better revenge than to sleep with my new brother?” He eyed me with distaste. “How does it feel to get sloppy seconds?”

My eyes clouded over as I felt the familiar rush of adrenaline. “You sure you fucked her before? She felt brand new to me. Maybe your dick just wasn’t big enough to do the job right—”

I didn’t have a chance to finish my thought before Jason’s fist came crashing down against my nose. The telltale pop and gush of blood were the only signs of a broken nose since, oddly enough, I felt no pain. In fact, the tingling sensation actually felt sort of good. I needed more of it.

“I have no idea what my mom sees in your dad. He’s nothing but a fucking pansy!” Jason yelled, lunging toward me again.

“Like I didn’t know that.”

Sidestepping him, I laughed and landed my own punch to his temple. He wavered a bit, but somehow straightened himself quickly before he fell to the floor. That punch would have knocked anybody else out, but Jason must have trained in some level of fighting before. Awestruck, I watched as he effortlessly spun around on his heel and threw another hit to my face. It landed with a sickening THUD, but once again I didn’t feel it. It was then I realized that I was too numb to feel anything. A year’s worth of denying everything that meant a lot to me had finally taken its toll.

Obviously perturbed at my lack of reaction, Jason began trembling with rage. He took a step forward as if to throw another punch, but leaned toward a nearby counter instead. To my horror he picked up my phone and threw me a wicked smile. “Who’s that girl you were texting? Balboa?”

I gritted my teeth, feeling the numbness finally give way to anger. “Give it back—now.”

“Oh, yeah, her name was Rocky, right?” Bleached teeth flashing, Jason made a show of swiping through my phone.

Fuck! I knew I should have made a passcode!

“What do you say I tell your little girlfriend back home that you were screwing around with some other girls? You think she’d like that? Will she still be your little bitch then?”

Just like that I snapped.

POW!

Jason crumpled to the ground, letting a groan escape his lips. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, which was swelling by the second. My phone clattered to the floor, but before I could reach for it, he grabbed my ankle, yanking hard until I fell beside him. I gasped for breath, but the impact had knocked the wind out of me. Jason took advantage of my momentary incoherence to climb on top of me and proceeded to throw quick jabs.

“How…punch…could you…punch…sleep with my fucking girlfriend?” he screeched.

Somehow mustering strength, I pushed him off of me, catapulting him toward the wall. I sprung to my feet and jumped on top of him, delivering my own blows.

Now, I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow due to our ruckus, the damaged cupboard broke further, causing dishes to fall to the ground. Our kitchen was now a warzone complete with shattered glass and other weaponry.

Our eyes simultaneously landed on a jagged piece of porcelain. Hesitantly, we glanced at each other. It wasn’t in me to call truce, but I drew that line at permanently maiming and perhaps murdering another person. Fortunately, Jason seemed to feel the same way.

Wiping the blood from his nose, he spat out red tinted saliva. “Fuck it. You’re not even worth it.”

My chest heaved with ragged breaths. Fists clenched, I took another step forward. “Come on! Let’s keep this going then.”

Jason’s bloody face broke out into a grin. “What’s the point? You’re not worth my time.”

I gestured toward an opened wound on his eyebrow, which continuously oozed blood. “Judging by that gash, I am worth something.”

Without answering, he stuck out his tongue and licked at a drop of blood on his cheek. Smacking his mouth together in show, he grinned again. “You’re just a piece of shit, Jesse. You, your dad, and your mom.”