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I caught Noah’s gaze and followed it to the building behind me. It looked like what was once a restaurant, now abandoned and empty. I was confused for a second until I looked up to the roof of the place and saw Jax walking calmly to the edge. How did he get up there?

He chuckled a deep laugh from his spot on the roof; and his laugh was like a beautiful symphony to my ears. What he did next startled me. He jumped off in one quick movement and landed steadily on his feet. And without hesitation, he walked towards me. He towered over me.

My breath hitched and it became heavy again. Without second thought, I spun my body and brought my leg up, swinging it at him, hard. He caught my roundhouse kick in one hand; it was inches from his face.

The force from my kick made my body move with momentum and I lost balance, falling onto the floor. “Get up.” He told me.

I looked up to his face and got up quickly. “Hit me.” He said in all seriousness. I was hesitant at first but I still threw a straight punch to his nose which he dodged with ease.

“Hit me.” He repeated.

I punched his gut and turned behind him, jumping onto his back and wrapping my arms around his neck. I felt him laughing through my chokehold even though I was holding it with all of my strength. He grabbed me from his back and flipped me, and somehow now our chests were touching and he held my arms to my sides.

I tried to wiggle away but he was far too strong for me. He looked directly into my eyes when I gave up the pointlessness of trying to fight his grip. His blue eyes stared into mine for what it felt like eternity. His breaths were rough and surprisingly cool against my burning face. Sweat dripped down the sides of his cheeks.

“Hit. Me.”

When the words tumbled from his lips, he released me. I took a couple of seconds to compose myself and raised my fists. We spent the next few minutes in silence, the only sounds that remained were of our fast breaths, hits against skin and the occasional gasp of my brother that sat and watched intently from his place on the ground.

Even though we were fighting, he didn’t once try hitting me. He just easily blocked the hits I was throwing.

Until…

I felt my hand come in contact with his mouth. Hard.

The sound it make scared me, making me jump a little. But I was frozen. “Damnit.” He cussed as he held his palm up to his bottom lip. His eyes flickered up and me and he smiled. He kept his eye contact even when he spat blood onto the floor beneath us. I looked to his lip as it bled. Wow.

“Damn Scar, who taught you that?” I can sense the overbearing sarcastic tone that bled from his lip. I looked to his eyes and they glinted with something I’ve always wanted. Pride. I brought my lip in between my teeth and answered in all honesty. “You did.”

He took two, long, strides and now he was directly in front of me. I avoided his eye contact up until he reached under my chin and lifted it to his gaze.

“Damn right I did. Good job, squirt.” He reached up and swiped dirt off my cheek with his thumb. We held eye contact once again and I felt my lungs deflating at his sharp stare.

Noah had amazing timing at the moment. He walked straight up to Jax and punched him directly in his right butt check. Jax just laughed like it tickled and picked up Noah.

“Woah, woah, little fighter.” Noah giggled as Jax tickled his belly. My thoughts immediately invaded my head once again. Jax is going to make a great dad one day.

** * **


Later that night, after saying goodbye to Jax I decided to go back to the shop for some painkillers for Noah. His head has been hurting him and I don’t like to see him hurt.

I wonder what Jax was doing right now. He always seems so busy and sometimes on edge. He’s been bailing on us lately and dismissing himself early. I don’t question him because I trust him. But I feel it in my bones. Something isn’t right.

I walked into the small store and went straight for the pharmaceuticals. I checked the front and there was no sign of the man. I was still on edge though, from the incident, a couple of nights before. I grabbed the strongest bottle of ibuprofen I could find and started to put it into my pocket. A hand grabbed my wrist and spun me around with great force.

My wrist twisted and I heard it pop twice, I groaned in pain as the bottle of pills fell from my grip and I looked up to the eyes of the convenience store owner. “You!” the man yelled in my face.

He breath smelled heavily of alcohol, making me wince. “You’ve been stealing from my store and now I’ve caught you. You’re taking my drugs!” He was smiling but his eyes were wild, he looked completely insane. I didn’t know what to do so I spat in his face, making him let go of me.

I acted upon impulse and grabbed the shelf by me that held holding various liquor bottles and threw it down with all my strength, creating a barrier between us. “Come back you bitch!” he yelled after me, still smiling.

I ran out of the building as fast as my leg could take me without flying from right under me. I saw Noah where I left him and he smiled only for a second, he knew something was wrong. “Scar-“ “Run.” I picked up Noah onto my back and ran, tears blurring my sight.

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                   »b.r.l.«

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