Heartstopper(37)

Seeing him laugh and joke around makes me even more mad. I jump out of  the car and shut the door just a little too hard before telling the  cabbie to wait, stalking up the sidewalk to the house.

Be careful, a little voice warns in the back of my head. You don't want to do anything that you'll end up regretting.

"What's up?" I ask casually as I walk up.

Jax's grins slowly fades from his face as he recognizes me, and he turns  a little pale. "Nothing much," he says finally, a cool note entering  his voice. "Just chilling with my girl, Erica."

I sneer. "Your girl, huh?"

He nods, trying to act hard when I know he's a scared little bitch. "Yeah, my girl."

That little smirk pisses me off and I can't help it. Without warning, I  snatch him up by the front of his shirt and slam him against the wall.

"Hey!" Erica cries, getting up from her seat, startled by my violent behavior. "Stop it!"

I ignore her, set in getting my point across. "You might not have been  legally drunk, so the cops might be done with you, but you could've  seriously hurt Sophie. I'm just going to say this once. Stay the fuck  away from my sister or I'm going to come back here, and next time, I  won't be so nice. You won't need a girl, because you'll be missing a set  of balls," I growl menacingly in his face. "You understand me?"         

     



 

Jax gasps, his face turning a dark shade of red as he nods violently. "Yes, I understand! I won't touch her, I swear!"

I hold him in place for a moment longer, letting him feel true terror,  then let him go. He comes away with a gasp, grabbing his throat. "Good,"  I growl. "I don't want to have to come back here again."

"What the hell was that for?" Erica demands as I step away, running forward to wrap her arm around Jax's shoulder as he wheezes.

"Dude's an asshole, and I've had enough of him getting my little sister  into things she shouldn't be in," I say. "Ask him about last weekend."

With that said, I turn and walk back to the cab. Behind me, I hear her demand of Jax, "What the hell is he talking about?"

As I get in the cab and he starts the engine, I witness the two arguing,  gesturing wildly at each other. The cabbie turns back and gives me a  questioning look, but he doesn't say a word. Before we pull off, I see  that Erica's had enough. She slaps Jax across the face, spins on her  heels, and walks off.

Chuckling, we drive off, and I can't stop the smile that forms on my face.



The apartment is silent as a tomb when I walk in, and except for the hum of the fridge in the kitchen, I can't hear anything.

"Sophie?" I ask, pulling off my suit jacket and draping it over the  empty sofa. The remote for the TV is untouched, right where I left it  this morning to check the news, and I grow more worried. I dropped her  off this morning but sent a driver to pick her up after school. I didn't  hear anything about a problem, but still . . .

I check my home office. Sophie uses my desktop computer from time to  time. Nothing, and I grow more worried. Walking down the hallway, I stop  outside her room, relief rushing through me as I hear something inside.  I almost decide to let her be, but instead I knock softly. "Sophie?"

There's no answer, and I'm about to turn away when there's a soft reply from the other side. "Come in."

I open the door and see her stretched out on her bed, watching one of  the stupid Real Housewives shows. Way too much unneeded drama for me.  "Hey."

"Hey," she says, sitting up, and to my relief, turning off the TV. "You're home early. For you, at least."

I think of making a wiseass remark, but instead I stop. This isn't the  time for it. "I came home because I wanted to see how you were doing.  Whatcha been up to?"

Sophie flops back, waving a hand at the TV. "Just watching TV. Jax tried to call me but I didn't answer."

I step into her room, sitting on the edge of the bed and raising an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Sophie looks embarrassed, and deep down, I see a little bit of hurt,  too. "I saw him with some chick at a party on Instagram. I know of her.  She's a total skank."

"Oh," I say quietly, glad that Sophie figured out that Jax is no good for her but sad that she's hurt.

Sophie reaches over, putting a hand on my arm. "I'm sorry, Jake."

She starts trembling, and I pull her up, giving her a hug. "I'm sorry  too, Sophie. Because you're right-you're my sister and I should have  given you more attention."

Sophie hugs me back. "I should've listened to you. You were right. He's a piece of shit."

I hold in my grin. I'm happy I paid the little fucker a visit, though  she doesn't need to know that. "We all make mistakes," I reply. "I think  I've made one or two in my life." It feels good to be hugging her  again, like we're back on the right path, the two of us against the  world like it's always been.

Sophie chuckles, and I notice that I haven't eaten. "You hungry? How about I make dinner for us?"

"I could eat," Sophie says, letting go. "I'll help."

We go out to the kitchen, where I pull out some kale and bell peppers while Sophie roots around in the fridge. "Pork chops?"

"Anything would be delicious for me," I reply, washing the greens.  Sophie nods, and silence falls over the kitchen. I want to make sure  everything is smoothed over, but I don't know how to start. Finally, I  clear my throat. "Sophie, you've always been my number one priority, and  as much time as the club and work take me away, I do it for us so that  we can have a good life. I'm trying to do right by Mom and Dad and give  you the life they'd want for you. But I don't know what I'm doing, so I  need you to help me here. Talk to me because I sure as fuck don't know  the first thing about teenage girls."         

     



 

Sophie takes out the kitchen knife and starts butterflying the chops. "I  know you're trying your best, Jake. You've done well by me. I mean, you  took me to get my first training bra. How many brothers can say that?"

I chuckle, shaking my head. "Yeah . . . but seriously, Sophie, you are  number one to me. Listen, I'm gonna promise you now that I'm going to  spend more time with you. Just the two of us, like it used to be."

"But what about Roxy? Have you talked to her?" she asks.

Just hearing Roxy's name hurts, and I shake my head. "After I left your  room, I said some pretty stupid shit to her in the hallway. I basically  told her that all of this was her fault. I don't think she wants to hear  from me."

Sophie sets the knife down, turning to look at me. "You haven't tried to talk to her since? What the hell are you waiting for?"

"Oh, I tried," I say quietly. "She's not picking up her phone, and she wasn't in the office today."

"And you just give up?" Sophie asks, turning back and picking up the  knife. She butterflies the other chop, shaking her head. "That's not  like you, Jake. You could do more."

I glance over at Sophie. She's dead serious. She puts the knife back  down and goes to get the skillets. "You think so? And you're okay with  that?"

"Me?" Sophie says, looking down. "Of course I am. I said some things I  didn't mean, too. I was talking out of anger and I'm sorry. I'm turning  seventeen soon, Jake. I've got a year and some change of high school  left, then hopefully I'm going to college. You need someone you can  spend the rest of your life with. If you think she's it, stop wasting  time. You deserve it."

She's right. No more waiting for her to answer the phone.





Chapter 27





Roxy





"Get up, Roxy!" I hear someone say. In the near week that I've been  calling off work, I've rarely left my room, preferring instead to spend  as much time as I can wrapped in the blackness of my blanket and sleep.

I groan from underneath the covers, barely awake. "Leave me alone," I moan. "I took a shower yesterday!"

"No!" snaps the voice, whom I finally recognize as Mindy. "I'm not going  away. I have to leave in a few days and you're being disrespectful to  your family. Now get up!"

I look at Mindy, but my tirade dies on my lips as I see her. She's  standing there, her hands on her hips, pissed like I haven't seen her in  a very long time. "Look at you. You look a hot mess. You've fallen  apart. I already checked with Hannah. You won't go to work. You haven't  eaten in three days. And why?"

"Because I-"

Mindy cuts me off. "Because you feel sorry for yourself! I know you feel  bad about what happened, but you can't let it control your life."

Her words hit me hard, and I look down, catching a whiff of myself. I am  a fucking mess. I feel so horrible, guilty and ashamed that my family  came all this way to see me, and here I am avoiding them because I can't  deal with the shame and hurt I feel. "Mindy . . ."

Mindy won't relent. "The past five days, every time we called, you  wouldn't answer. I called your home phone and even talked with Hannah,  trying to get you to come to the hotel. Then I come by today, only to  find out that Hannah hasn't even been able to get your ass out of bed?  Your room smells like the zombie apocalypse, and I'm not putting up with  it anymore!"