The Soldier and The Spy: Jay Halstead- Episode 2

Chapter 7

Thirteen Years Ago

The night should have ended there.

Really, there was only so much that should reasonably be allowed to happen in one evening but then his family loved to push limits.

After they'd gone back inside Carol had shooed him into the kitchen to clean up while she took Tess into the living room for that glass of wine, 'since she isn't going anywhere now', and it had only taken five seconds before his brother started teasing him. He'd been able to ignore the jabs at their failed sneakiness and maybe even secretly enjoyed his nickname for her, little demon, but when he'd brought up all the 'sinful' things they must've been getting up to... Jay had snapped. Logically he knew Will was only joking, he'd have made the same comment himself if the tables had been reversed but he'd already been on edge and after what she'd shared it hadn't taken much to push him over. He'd grabbed his brother in a chokehold and taken him straight out the back door but of course being the older sibling Will had felt the need to assert his dominance, or try to, and they'd quickly started brawling. He'd just kneed his brother in the stomach when the sound of the screen door snapping shut caught his attention and suddenly there was Tess, his dad and his aunt beside her and the words he'd just shouted hanging in the air between them.

'She's a virgin!'

No one had moved, their faces almost comically frozen in shock before Tess slowly turned to his father.

'At least now you know there hasn't been any funny business?'

His aunt had lost it. Full on, hands on her knees, tears streaming down her face as she pointed at her brother's lost it. Meanwhile his dad had just shaken his head and walked inside without a word, the next snap prompting him to shove his brother to grass and grab Tess, barely listening to Carol's scolding as he rushed them upstairs. He'd felt awful, he'd lost count of how many times he apologized but once she got over her shock she had just laughed, albeit into his chest as she tried to hide her own embarrassment but it had been genuine and the sound had eased his guilt. Still they hadn't left his room for the rest of the night, not even when his aunt had called up to say she was leaving and Tess had tried, but he'd grabbed her in a bear hug and told her that she didn't need to bother because she'd likely be back again first thing in the morning. Sometime in the last month without any of them knowing Carol had copied one of their keys and begun letting herself in whenever she wanted. Which was often. And then of course less than an hour after that Tess had been the one to hold him down when he'd tried to go after his brother, he'd called her a little demon when saying goodnight, and to his surprise it hadn't been difficult for her to keep him down. Not that he'd really struggled.

Much.

Will had gone back to work two days ago and though Jay was thankful not to have to deal with his teasing anymore he was also sad to see him go. With Tess there to ease the tension they'd been able to talk a lot more but with his next deployment due to start in a little over a month, who knew when he would see his brother again? He prayed the next time was under better circumstances.

It had been eight days now since his mom's funeral. Fourteen since she'd died.

That first week had been the worst of his life but this last one... it shouldn't rank among the best, but it kind of did. In an awful, horrible way because of Tess it did. Speaking of her, she was failing to hold back a snicker from where she sat beside him in the truck, both staring out the windshield at the rain that was once again pouring down.

"I don't understand how this keeps happening." He muttered, trying to judge the distance to the house. Not too far thankfully but the sky had quickly gone from dark to black and it was barely past seven pm.