A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 36

  My Saturday afternoon was spent with Blake, as well as Kyle, at a diner celebrating the two-week winter break that had been anticipated for months. It was in the midst of a small outdoor mall that was down the street from the school, resulting in it being popular among teenagers. 

  Kyle was on his phone, like he usually is when supervising us, waiting for all the food to arrive. He decided he would head the bathroom so he could have clean hands when the time came to eat.

  Blake was sitting next to me with his hand casually sat on my knee, which was calming my nerves unbeknownst to him. I was drawing in the condensation on the glass of soda when he gave me a random kiss on the cheek, causing me to giggle like a school girl - which I technically am - before letting his hand linger on my cheek. His eyes held genuine love and care and his touch was as gentle as he could make it. While the sappy moment made me happy and giddy, it was interrupted when I saw the waiter coming out of the corner of my eye.

  The food had just been set down as Kyle returned from the bathroom and everyone quickly became more interested in their food than each other. 

  After the bill was payed Blake and I departed from Kyle who had to go pick up his little brother from baseball practice and headed back to my house. We pulled into the driveway and Blake gave my hand a small squeeze as a goodbye.

  Blake drove off as I unlocked the door. As soon as the door was opened, the carefree mindset I had had throughout the day was clouded by stress and anxiety. My brothers littered the living room, all baring the same look: arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and jaws locked. I've seen them mad, and I've seen them wear the exact same expression that they were wearing now, but the air that filled the room was new. It was filled with anger; pure and utter anger.

  "What?" I asked as quietly as I could.

  "Don't act so innocent." Jason sneered from the couch. When they all saw my eyes that were still wide with confusion, Justin decided to incorporate. 

  "You are with Blake." Justin kept his voice smooth and low but anyone could hear the menacing undertone that he laced in.

  "What?" At this point, I knew exactly what but I refused to believe it.

  "You. Are dating. Blake. We saw him kiss you, Brooklyn." Jackson made no attempt to keep his anger hidden. "What have you not understood about everything we have told you? We said no dating, we made it very clear." His voice scared me. He wasn't yelling but at this point I wish he would. He sounded beyond mad and it only caused me to cower in fear.

  "He is going to hurt you and that's why we said no." Chase added on.

  "No he won't. At least not in any way that other boys wouldn't. I'm not a naive ten year old." I tried to speak with confidence but my voice faltered. 

  "You're acting like it. Do you know his past with girls?" Alex added his input. "He gets his cute little words in her mind just before getting himself in her pants. Then the next day, he acts as if she doesn't exist. He just moves on to the next girl."

  "As I said, I am not naive. He hasn't 'gotten into my pants'. He hasn't even tried." I retorted.

  "That's because he knows you. He knows you won't give in easy, he's gonna gain your trust so he can abuse it and, inevitably, leave you." Alex said. I scoffed and crossed my hands over my chest.

  "He's not an ass like you guys make him out to be. He hasn't hurt me. He hasn't used me. He's treated me with respect, which is more than I can say about you." My voice got louder with each sentence.

  "He hasn't hurt you yet. He hasn't used you yet. He doesn't settle down, Brooklyn!" Jackson yelled, catching my attention from Alex.

  "You aren't the one who chooses that! If he hurts me, then he hurts me. It's no different with any other boy. It's no different from you guys. You shut me away and try to hide me from the world and the people that you claim are 'so toxic' but you are the most controlling factor I've had in my life. You guys are the reason I don't have a job. The reason I never had a boyfriend. The reason I am only just now even allowed to try and get my permit. The reason I have only started to come to terms with how I look. It was always you guys who were hurting me and you never even noticed." My voice wavered but with anger as opposed to fear or sadness.

  "We did it trying to protect you. He'll do it for his own selfish reasons." Jax spoke up. He never does.

  "He won't! Oh my god!" I groaned, "He is the only person, aside from Kyle, who has given me decisions. He makes me happy and even if it ends, it will be remembered as one of the happiest times in my life. Even if he hurts me in the end, he made me happy and made me smile more than any of my own brothers have. But you guys are too damn blind to see that I've been happier in the past few weeks. That was him. All you guys have done is narrow the big life I could have lived. He took this pathetic situation that I hated so much, and made it bearable - fun even." The anger on their faces was still extremely visible but it has weakened since earlier. 

  The room sat in uncomfortable silence for a minute or so. All of the eyes that were trained on either me or the carpet shot to door behind me, which I had left open. When I turned around, Blake was standing in the door way with my jacket dangling in his hand.

  "You forgot this in the car." He spoke kindly with a smile, failing to notice the emotions surrounding him. I gently took it and put on a strained smile. That was until Jackson was suddenly in between us, shoving Blake onto the wall of the porch.

  "Jackson!" I yelled and made a move to at least stand in between the two but Justin was already holding me.

  "I don't know what Jackson is gonna do, Brooklyn but I really don't want you to be in the middle of it." Justin whispered readjusted his grip so it was more like a hug.

 "I swear to god if you do anything to him, I am leaving this damn house." The threat was ignored. To many people the threat would have come off as empty, but it was far from an empty threat. Blake didn't try to do anything to Jackson, he just stood there.

  "What the fuck Blake?" Jackson yelled, Blake once again was calm, as if he understood why Jackson was so mad. "I told you a long time ago, Brooklyn was off limits, I told you that even before our mom died. Why is it so hard for you to keep it in your pants?" Jackson was fueled with rage, but their was more than anger and it was made clear when his eyes were red and watering.

  "Jackson, I don't want to get in her pants. That's the last thing I care about. She is the last person on earth I would have chosen to like. The last thing I would want to do is hurt her. I don't know why the fuck it had to be the one person who was off limits, but it was. I'm sorry but I'm not just gonna avoid her because you want me to." Blake spoke lowly.

  Jackson was still angry and before anyone could catch on to what was about to happen Jackson landed a punch right to Blake's left cheek. Justin's hands released me as he ran in between Jackson and Blake while I ran over to Blake. I tried to brush my hand over his cheek but he grabbed my wrist and set it next to my side. He instead cupped my face with his hands and brushed the tears, that I never noticed, away with him thumbs. 

  I realized that the tears were from the fact that everything was going downhill as opposed to them being from anger at my brothers or sympathy for Blake. I shook the new information away from my thoughts as I grabbed Blake's wrists and walked over to his car.

  "Brooklyn, what are you doing?" Justin asked as he tried to calm down Jackson.

  "I said if Jackson did anything to Blake, I was leaving, so I'm leaving." I made my voice a bit quieter to keep my tone even.

  Jackson looked up at me, the anger was now gone and guilt and sadness, as well as a bit of betrayal, took place. I felt a small bit of guilt as all brothers looked at me with hurt in their eyes as they watched me take the side of Blake, as opposed to theirs.

  Blake was trying to say something but I just blocked him out and looked out the window as I tried to process what happened today.

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