Hopelessly Broken

56. Getting Together

6.13.20

Jack's POV

I heard a loud shattering sound as I was making macaroni and cheese, so I tilted my head back to look at the source. "Ma, why did you dro–" When I followed her gaze, I froze as well. All that could be heard in the room was the microwave running and my mom's heavy breathing. Maggie... I think I'm dead. Dreaming or dead; this makes no sense. Can't a man make Mac and Cheese!? "Mag?" I was in shock, but the words just tumbled out of my lips.

"Yes, baby bro." My knees got slightly week at the confirmation, and I had to grab onto the counter to prevent myself from falling. Before I could stop it, a sob wracked my body, and my arms grew weak enough that I crashed onto the floor.

"H-how... You're dead."

My sister walked up to me wearily since I was still crying, and I knew it was real when her arms wrapped tightly around me. "Well clearly I'm not."

I clung onto her shoulders like we were little kids again while the tears poured out of my eyes, and her arms were curled protectively around my back. Once I finally began to calm down from the shock, my mom finally snapped out of her trance. "Are you actually here?" she breathed while fiddling with her hands.

"Yes, mama."

"My baby!" Mom joined our floor hugging party, and I leant my head against Mag's shoulder. This is the second best day in my life! "Where did you go?"

"I'll explain once dad goes back to normal."

"I- a- w-" Yeah, Dad is definitely broken. Then he passed out, so we knew we had broken him to the max.

"He'll be fine... How did you find us?" I breathed.

"I forced someone to bring me here... I would have come sooner, but I was nervous you would reject me."

"What for? You're my sister, and you have to tell me where you've been!"

"Well the man that took me had bad intentions, but we were intercepted before we reached our location luckily. Um, when we were found, our party was attacked, and I was safe. The thing is, I met my soulmate, and I couldn't leave her. I knew that it would be hard for you to accept her, so I didn't come back... I stayed with her this whole time, but now I'm here again."

"Sweetie, why did you think we wouldn't accept someone so important to you?" My mother murmured sadly, and I saw Maggie look down slightly ashamed.

"Qbob." What is that supposed to mean? This is making no sense. Suddenly, a short girl who I assumed to be my sister's soulmate ran up to her, and I realized exactly why we wouldn't have accepted someone like her a few weeks ago. She's a demon. There's a second freaking demon in our family. Okay, Jack, be civil. You had to behave yourself before when a demon prince scooped up your crush, you can behave now.

Honestly, the day that Dev came back with that hell bastard I had felt my entire heart just stop. Not only was he angry at me enough to fight me, but he was deliberately stabbing me in the heart by falling for another man after I made it obvious I liked him! I didn't even get the sophistication of a real rejection. I honestly could like Oliver if he wasn't trying to take away someone I love, but... I don't know.

"Nice meet, I Pana," the demon declared in her broken English, and I shook her extended hand.

"Jack." The girl smiled at me, and I couldn't help but grin back. Whether or not she's a demon, she's making my big sister happy. That and my big sister is back in my life! "So... Who brought you here?" I assumed I know the answer, but I need to be sure.

Sure enough, Devon walked out from behind the doorpost, and he smiled at the reunion of our family. Maggie turned around to smile at him, so I knew they had already met. I was about to smile as well, but Oli came out before it became a scowl. The man curled his arms around my crush while fixing me an unseen glare, and I scoffed at the rudeness. The only reason I had even semi gotten along with him was that I needed to do my part in saving Devon. I hate this guy's guts.

Pana fixed me a dirty look, and she shouted something in her demon language. "Tipx tpnf sftqfdu, npsubm!"

I don't know what she said, but it made the stupid demon prince snort. I knew it was bad when my sister glared at her soulmate, and the girl shrank in on herself. "What did she just say?"

"It was nothing, baby bro."

I gave up on trying to keep a friendship with these people and stormed out of the room. As soon as I was around the corner, I allowed my body to slide down the wall. Why does he not see that I'm breaking from his actions?

"Are you okay?" When I looked up, I saw that Daniel was staring down at me being a freak.

"I'm fine," I lied lowly. I'm not okay, and I don't know if I will be for a while.

"I know you don't really like me, but we can talk if you need to." The other boy sat down in front of me, but his words brought back a memory. It reminded me of a time when I was still developing my relationship with Devon, and he had slipped a letter under my door. Those were much more normal times, but I wouldn't call them good. I still didn't have half a clue on how to talk to him or anyone without being a total asshole. The memory brought tears to my eyes, and I temporarily forgot where I was when I let them fall.

Well, that is until a gentle hand was wiping them from under my eyes. I looked into Daniel's eyes, and I was sort of shocked at how gentle they are. I've never had the chance to look deeply into his emerald green eyes, so I never recognized exactly how beautiful the irises are.

"Sorry, I kind of started crying on you."

"It's fine, I'm used to it. My papa can get really emotional sometimes, haha."

"So... Uh..."

"So."

"How are you feeling with this whole demon thing."

"I feel like an asshole because of my actions when the one took me over. I mean, who kills their own brother? I feel unimportant, too... It's almost like everyone else around me has some grand magical power, and I'm just boring."

"I never realized that you felt that way. Honestly, I would kind of like not being involved in this. It's really hard, and I don't like having to be in control of so much magic. It's really easy to accidentally hurt someone." Like that pregnant lady.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well I hope we can talk more often; I think you're a really cool guy."

"Really?"

"Mhm."

"Okay... Let's get to know each other better."