Chasing Thunder

Chapter twenty-five

I brightened up over the next few days and despite his caring nature whilst I was ill, as soon as I was back on my feet, Jake was back to barking orders at me.

Clearly he didn't believe in recovery time.

But it wasn't too soon after that we started receiving phone calls.

Jake took all of them. Whether he knew the caller or just didn't trust us to answer the phone ourselves we didn't know, but he would be on the phone for long periods at a time and always seemed displeased when he hung up - to put it lightly.

I took a long drink of water before cleaning all the weapons. Keeping my headache at bay; it was almost constant right now. I cast another look at Jake, who was occupied with keeping my cousin in line.

He was just barely holding onto his temper by a thread and I hoped Chip would notice that before something happened.

The pair of them were squabbling like siblings. Living with them made me feel like a parent on their last straw and Chip was only making it worse by asking so many stupid questions.

"Why can't you just face your dad like everyone else does? He's your father. He wouldn't hurt you." Chip asked.

Clearly he hadn't been working with Nick for that long. Though I thought the same thing not so long ago, now I knew he was capable of anything. Even killing his own son.

A knife was palmed and Jake approached my cousin, angling it at his neck and finally making him shut up.

"Do you have a dangerous father?" He asked, quietly.

He was silent.

"Do you know what he's capable of? What he's done to me?"

He just barely indicated no.

"So don't ever imply that he wouldn't hurt me. That's bullshit." He whispered. "He's capable of anything. Everything."

Chip didn't even breathe. A long pause followed where the pair stared at each other, Jake just daring Chip to say something else. To give him a reason to ram the knife into his neck.

After several minutes of agonizing silence, Jake removed the knife from my cousin's throat and moved away from him.

"I'm going to get a drink." Jake said. "Don't wait up."

"We have a fridge full of water here, you know." Chip muttered.

He gave him an icy glare his dad would be proud of.

"I'm going to get a proper drink." He clarified.

I sighed and Chip shrugged, walking away into a small room for some peace and quiet.

"Jake..." I started.

"Infant, no. I'm not in the mood for a lecture, okay? I'm going to go and do what I do best and cause trouble. You do what you do best and do as you're told." He muttered.

I watched him leave and hoped he would return in one piece. Should I go with him or would that just cause more trouble?

I couldn't go with him. He needed to make mistakes or else he would never learn from them. Maybe a hangover would be just what he needed to reflect on what went wrong. With everything.

But I was tired of cleaning up his mistakes. He left a trail of destruction wherever he went and I was tiptoeing around the rubble he left behind trying to keep him safe.

When did I become his protector?

The day you decided he was worth your time.

He was begging for trouble, but if that's what he needed, then that's what he'd get.